PlusZero Awarded €41,000 Grant From EU NESOI Programme
PlusZero is delighted that its “Green Orkney Hydrogen Market Expansion GO(H2)ME” project is one of 28 projects awarded funding in the first funding call of the EU New Energy Solutions Optimised for Islands (NESOI) programme*.
The NESOI grant will be used by PlusZero and its project partners the European Marine Energy Centre, Edinburgh University School of Geosciences and Abbott Risk Consulting to determine the potential to scale up green hydrogen production in Orkney and transport this to the mainland for use within PlusZero’s hydrogen based clean power solution for the outdoor events industry.
Scotland’s remote Island archipelagos such as Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles are richly endowed with renewable wind and marine energy potential. However, they have a limited local market for this clean energy and are unable to export green electricity due to constraints on their grid connections to the mainland.
Using this electricity which would otherwise be curtailed, PlusZero will create green hydrogen which can be transported to new mainland markets in the outdoor events sector - unlocking significant new economic opportunities for the Islands.
Managing Director of PlusZero, David Amos, said:
“Island communities often have a significant stake in the land they occupy and the renewable energy that is generated on that land.
“By producing green hydrogen on the Islands, PlusZero will create a new local market for renewable electricity produced by community owned wind farms and remove the current grid connection constraint barrier to building new community owned renewable energy projects.
“PlusZero believes there is huge potential for local communities to get a double benefit resulting from new renewable electricity sales revenue and the new job opportunities in green hydrogen production and transportation.
“We look forward to getting the project off the ground and for PlusZero’s exciting future.”
The PlusZero project[1] outcome will be reported in early 2022.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 864266.
[1] https://www.nesoi.eu/system/files/private/nesoi/Briefs/nesoi_z175_goh2me_brief.pdf