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How hydrogen is transforming these tiny
Scottish islandsScotland's Orkney Islands produce more clean
energy than their inhabitants can use. Their next
step? Hydrogen. Here's why that matters - and
what the rest of the world could learn.
By Diego Arguedas Ortiz in Stromness, Orkney Islands
28 March 2019
I’ve seen thousands of petrol pumps in my life, but this is my first
encounter with a hydrogen refuelling station. It sits by the road in
the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off the north-east coast of
Scotland where residents have big dreams: they want to have
their cars, ferries and boilers all running on hydrogen.
As we approach the station, its normality is striking. There are no
attendants in full-body hazmat suits, no sci-fi loud bangs, no bright
neon signs. Just your average dispenser waiting to be used.
But Adele Lidderdale, a hydrogen project officer at the Orkney
Islands Council, is a little nervous: one of her van’s sensors hasbeen malfunctioning lately, she says, and might not accept fuel
from the nozzle. Now, she plugs the nozzle into her van and steps
back to the screen at the other end of the black hose. She looks
relieved as the charging process starts with a hydraulic mumble
from within the dispenser.
Three minutes later, the 1.4kg tank full, we drive off — all without
using one single drop of petrol.
-_ S PIE i Fhe nt)
Orkney has five vans that run on hydrogen, a fuel which emits no
greenhouse gases or pollution (Credit: Diego Arguedas Ortiz)
Since Orkney started planning its hydrogen-based economy in
2016, the process hasn't always been this smooth. When five
vans, including this one, arrived in 2017, the islands didn’t have
hydrogen for them, as production was still not underway. After
managing to charge the tanks, the planners encountered another