Hydrogen delegation trip: EEHH visits Scotland

Hamburg and Scotland share a close working relationship in the field of hydrogen and renewable energies.

Due to its outstanding offshore wind conditions, but also due to decades of experience in the gas business, Scotland is an excellent partner for the production of green hydrogen. Cooperation with Scotland is well integrated into further cooperation between Germany and the UK in the North Sea region, which was also underlined at the North Sea Summit in Hamburg at the end of January 2026.

It is true that the production of green hydrogen in Scotland is more expensive by global standards.  But in the future, transport costs will be lower, especially if it can be fed into the European hydrogen network without the hydrogen first having to be cracked, e.g. from ammonia, which is energy-intensive.  A price of €3 per kg of hydrogen could be reached. Nearly 90 Scottish projects are in the pipeline, but most of the planned installed capacity is still in the concept phase (just under 70%). Less than 1% is already in operation or under construction. Around 30 projects are to be implemented in the next 3 years.

In recent years, the EEHH cluster has carried out many activities with its Scottish partners. Several Scottish delegations have already travelled to Hamburg, for example in autumn 2025, when Scottish hydrogen production projects presented themselves to potential customers from Hamburg. EEHH and the Hydrogen Scotland cluster have been linked by a close partnership for several years.

In April 2026, a northern German group of about 20 companies visited the centre of Scottish hydrogen – Aberdeen. EEHH organised the trip together with AquaVentus e.V. The aim was to meet project developers on site and to exchange information on the planning status of the various projects and the development of joint supply chains. Several companies from both countries presented their projects, products and services.

Participants from the Hamburg metropolitan region, but also from the AquaVentus Förderverein e.V. for offshore hydrogen, covered the entire supply chain from offshore generation to transport and storage to industrial use. The group of participants from the EEHH network included, for example, offtakers (Aurubis), scientists (Fraunhofer IWES), manufacturers (Hanseatic Hydrogen and Enapter) as well as small, specialised service providers such as control-f for comprehensive data analysis in energy systems.

They exchanged ideas with companies and partners such as SubSea7, Cairn Risk Consulting, Veri Energy, Apollo, Hydrogen Scotland, the Net Zero Technology Center, Xodus, Group Energy and Scottish Enterprise.

They talked a lot about the hydrogen import corridor between the UK and the EU mainland. The various options for the pipeline connection from the UK to the European Hydrogen Backbone were presented and discussed. One option is the connection from the UK-EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) to Gascade’s Aquaductus projects on the German side. An application has been made to include this route in the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) of the pan-European network development initiative for electricity and gas by ENTSO-E and ENTSOG. According to initial analyses, the connection via Aquaductus would be around 30% (£1 billion) cheaper than the original option of connection via Emden. Since 2025, there has been a Memorandum of Understanding between GASCADE and National Gas for the development of an offshore pipeline (600-800 km, capacity up to 20GW).

A pipeline connection is also of great importance for customers from energy-intensive industries such as Aurubis, as the transport costs would make even very cheaply produced green hydrogen too expensive – Aurubis, for example, sees the price of (green) hydrogen as being far from being competitive with fossil gas plus CO2 allowances – the OPEX costs of green hydrogen alone are three to four times higher. The prices caused by European regulation cannot be passed on to customers in this industry, as the copper price is set globally on the London Metal Exchange, i.e. EU companies have to cover all costs, including the costs caused by EU regulation, from the same turnover as their global competitors.

For the further development of the hydrogen import corridor between Scotland and Germany, it remains to be seen what steps the UK government will take next, as Scotland cannot develop its hydrogen activities independently of Westminster. For example, it is still unclear to what extent green hydrogen from Scotland will be used in England for decarbonisation in industry and other sectors; on the other hand, the export of green hydrogen and renewable energy can contribute to the UK’s trade balance. Against this background, too, the stakeholders are waiting for the timely publication of the revised national hydrogen strategy of 2021.

At the end of the trip, the group visited the Zero Emission Whisky Distillery in Arbikie. Here, green hydrogen is produced with the help of solar and wind energy, which will soon be used to decarbonise the distillation of whiskey, gin and vodka.