UofG lends expertise to hydrogen economy roundtable
Published: 5 December 2022
Professor David Flynn, of the James Watt School of Engineering, has lent his expertise to a roundtable discussion on the hydrogen economy.
Professor David Flynn, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, has lent his expertise to a roundtable discussion on the hydrogen economy.
Prof Flynn participated in a discussion on how Scotland and Germany could collaborate on a sustainable and scalable hydrogen economy at an event at the Scottish Government’s Glasgow offices on Thursday 1stDecember.
Attendees at the meeting included Michael Matheson MSP, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Kingdom, and Andreas Guenther Zimmer of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The discussion centred around how Scotland could help support Germany’s energy demand and security requirements, and represented a mutual opportunity for both nations to address and grow their sustainable energy economies.
The dialogue focused on pathways of collaboration, with a focus on technology, future infrastructure, green finance, workforce resilience challenges and joint policy on scaling up the hydrogen economy.
Professor Flynn said: "It's clear that from the adversity of Germany’s energy crisis, a renewed focus on international cooperation can accelerate the mutual ambitions both countries have for a national and global hydrogen economy.
“Moving forward, green hydrogen from Scotland will require logistical and infrastructure solutions, which will take time and require a significant investment. A strategic alliance between Germany and Scotland can bring, in principle, additional benefits to both economies beyond the immediate monetisation of hydrogen.
“That could come in the form of investment into new UK manufacturing, knowledge and technology transfer, building on Scotland's impressive base of innovation and SMEs, and presenting a greater economic value proposition, as well as enhanced security of supply, through a European supply chain between Scotland and Germany.
“It was very encouraging to see the leadership and engagement from both governments, who have a critical role to play in creating the right stakeholder-informed policies to remove the barriers to sustainability and energy security.
“In my capacity as Chair of IET Scotland, I welcome the opportunity to work with our stakeholders on best we respond to the workforce resilience challenges we face, as to prosper in our domestic and international markets.”
Professor Flynn is one of the leads of the EPSRC-funded Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transitions project, or HI-ACT, alongside colleagues from the Universities of Newcastle and Cardiff. HI-ACT aims to provide open and informed scrutiny of hydrogen integration, to unlock new insights to hydrogen pathways, and to protect national energy resilience.
First published: 5 December 2022
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