£18m boost for world’s first 100% green heating scheme

Energy Park Fife, Methil Docks eveloping a world-leading ngineering zone

Fife has leapt closer to launching the world’s first 100% green hydrogen ne twork w i th the announcement of an £18 million funding boost.

A total of 300 homes across Levenmouth will be connected to the network, with residents becoming the first in the world to use zero-carbon hydrogen for heating and cooking.

Householders will be invited to get involved in the four to five-year trial from late next year.

Energy regu la tor Ofgem has awarded funding to gas network company SGN to build its H100 Fife hydrogen demonstration project at the energy park in Methil.

The trial has been hailed as revolutionary, with the potential to cut carbon emissions while improving the Fife economy.

It will see the initial 300 customers given a free hydrogen connection, free replacement hydrogen appliances and free maintenance over the length of the project.

SGN sa id the hydrogen appliances w o u l d connect to the existing pipes for zero-carbon cooking and heating.

New hydrogen- ready boilers will be provided but there will be no need to replace radiators or plumbing and households will pay the same as for natural gas.

T he projec t aims to d emon s t ra t e how renewable energy produced by o ff s h o r e wind can generate a secure and reliable supply of green hydrogen to heat homes.

If successful, homes and businesses across the UK could eventually receive hydrogen heating via 170,000 miles of pipes.

It is the latest in a number of significant i n v e s tm e n t s i n L e venmouth, and Fife Council co-leaders David Ross and David Alexander said they very mu c h w e l c om e d t h e opportunities it would bring, saying: “We are very pleased that SGN has successfully secured funding from Ofgem for what is a s i g n i fi c a n t step forward.

“With H100 Fife as the latest development in the energy park, we welcome t h e growth

o f inward investments to improve the local economy.”

Hydrogen for the network will be produced through electrolysis powered by an offshore wind turbine.

Storage and production, as well as a hydrogen appliance demonstration home, will be within the energ y park, which is owned by Scott ish Enterprise and leased to SGN for the project.

A new pipe network will run alongside the current natural gas system and customers will get the choice of staying with natural gas or switching to green hydrogen.

SGN’s director of energy futures, Angus McIntosh, below, said Fife would be playing a vital role in leading Britain’s transition to a net zero energy system.

He added: “Levenmouth residents will be at the centre of this energy revolution, as together we prove the existing gas network is able to deliver hydrogen, potentially reaching net zero with less cost than other zero-carbon alternatives.”

The H100 Fife project is said to fully align with the S co t t i sh and UK governments’ ambition to decarbonise the economy over the next 30 years.