On 30 March H2 Green, a wholly owned subsidiary of the geoenergy and green hydrogen company Getech, announced their successful application to the UK Government's Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. They have been awarded £500,000 to support the development of a green hydrogen hub in Inverness.

Last year H2 Green and the gas network and distribution company SGN Commercial Services worked together to demolish the gas holder next to the railway's Millburn Yard near Inverness Station. The cleared site will be used to build a production, storage and dispensing facility which will be able to supply trains, lorries and buses. The hub will be able to produce more than 8 tonnes of hydrogen every day.

According to Getech, "The Inverness site will supply green hydrogen to large-volume commercial transport customers, such as trains, buses, trucks and heavy goods vehicles. In line with these goals, we secured agreements with Eversholt Rail to facilitate the wide-scale deployment of their hydrogen-powered trains on the Far North and West Highland Lines of Scotland." The mention of the West Highland Line is puzzling unless there are secret plans to build the Tulloch-Newtonmore link!

At the DeCarbScotland Conference on 2 February, Luke Johnson, Managing Director of H2 Green said that the company has been working with Eversholt to map train movements in the Highlands against projected hydrogen demand. "Instead of a truck receiving 10-20 kilograms of hydrogen, a train would receive 200-300 kg, all of which needs to be dispensed within half an hour, which has a significant impact on the way we design that distribution system."