Earlier this year, the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, or BEIS, held the Industrial Fuel Switching Competition in the hopes of putting in an early investment into fuel switching processes and technologies in the industrial setting. This competition has led to BEIS providing funding worth 148 thousand pounds for a pilot plant for HySpirits, a proposal for sustainable distillery. This is only a portion of the 390 million pounds to help cut industrial emissions.
Previous reports have been looking at hydrogen as a green source of energy. Related to this is a project called HySpirits, which aims to develop a system that would use hydrogen as the combustion fuel for its distillation and heat transfer processes. This would in turn eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
Orkney Distilling Ltd. would be working with Edinburgh Napier University and the European Marine Energy Centre, or EMEC, who uses wind and tidal energy in the production of hydrogen. EMEC will be leading the project, while Edinburgh Napier University will be responsible for the initial assessment of the site and in designing of the system.
The government hopes that the feasibility study would prove viable and after this, they will be looking into first, copying the technology across various sectors, and then possibly fitting the technology into existing systems. If their research turns out well, Orkney Distillery will become the world's first distillery that is powered by hydrogen.
EMEC hydrogen manager Jon Clipsham stated the possible implication of this type of technology. "The HySpirits project blends tradition with innovation," he said. "Decarbonising the distilling process with green hydrogen derived from local renewables is a great example of the creative ways Orkney is addressing the challenges of the energy transition."
Climate change minister Lord Ian Duncan expressed how this could be a big step in providing a solution to global warming. "Using the power of hydrogen could help cut emissions, create jobs and make industrial processes cleaner and greener, benefitting the whole economy as we work towards net zero by 2050," he said. "This innovative project from HySprits/EMEC will help our efforts to roll out hydrogen at scale by the 2030s - a crucial step towards the end of the UK's contribution to global warming."
