Angus distillery wins approval for hydrogen plan.
An Angus distiller has won planning permission to pioneer world-leading green hydrogen technology in a multi-million pound development of its farm-based business.
Arbikie will use a 250 foot wind turbine to power a hydrogen electrolyser on its site overlooking Lunan Bay.
The renewable energy will heat stills at the award-winning distiller, which has found global success with its gin, vodka and rye whisky since being founded in 2014.
It is led by three brothers of the Stirling family who farm 2,000 acres on the Angus coast between Arbroath and Montrose.
John Stirling told Angus councillors the hydrogen project has the potential to transform the distilling industry.
John Stirling, said:
This is a world first in Angus that is a benefit for way more than just us.
It will be the significant step forward for Arbikie’s ‘field to bottle’ sustainability ethos.
Arbikie won £3 million of government funding in 2021 to develop the scheme.
“The project is highly innovative, the first of its kind anywhere in the world,” he added.
“We are currently dependent on imported oil.”
“The burning of oil produces most of our carbon emissions and exposes us to price volatility.”
But the new project will make zero-carbon green hydrogen the distillery’s primary fuel source.
Mr Stirling, said:
There is huge responsibility across the world and Arbikie will be a leader in that.
“It can act as a catalyst across the industry.”
The application involves land at Drumbertnot, north of the distillery.
The wind turbine will be a maximum of 250 feet to its tip, with a hub height of 150 feet.
A compound adjacent to the existing distillery will house the hydrogen electrolysis plant and cooling equipment, four hydrogen storage silos, and ancillary equipment.
Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced via electrolysis using electricity from a renewable source.
The electrolyser uses water to create hydrogen and oxygen.
And the hydrogen is sent to a boiler house to heat the distillery stills.
Council planning officials backed Arbikie’s application when it went before Angus Standards Development Committee.
And it was unanimously approved by councillors who said it was an “exciting” development.
Consultees including Sepa, the RSPB, Dundee Airport and the MoD made no objection to the proposal. But there were local objections around issues including the scale of the turbine.
Planning official Alan Hunter told councillors it was considered an acceptable renewables development.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Distiller Wins Approval for Hydrogen Plan, August 17, 2022
