Surf ‘n’ Turf hydrogen project is officially launched

The official launch of the pioneering Surf ‘n’ Turf hydrogen project took place at Kirkwall Pier this afternoon with the Scottish Government’s business, innovation & energy minister, Paul Wheelhouse MSP cutting the ribbon to mark the event.

Mr Wheelhouse was one of 70 guests, travelling from the UK and Europe, who had the opportunity to view the installations at Kirkwall Pier and on Eday.

A public seminar on ‘Orkney’s Hydrogen Future’ was also scheduled to take place at the Pickaquoy Centre, this afternoon, Wednesday.

Surf ‘n’ Turf is so named because it stores energy from tidal and wind generators as hydrogen. Based in Eday, the system draws renewable electricity either from tidal turbines at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC’s) tidal test site, or from the onshore wind turbine run by the Eday community.

An electrolyser uses the electricity to split water (H2O) into its component parts – hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2).As it is produced from renewable electricity, hydrogen is a clean fuel that causes no carbon emissions.

Surf ‘n’ Turf is a pioneering project that see’s hydrogen generated from the tidal and wind energy to overcome the grid limitations in Eday. The hydrogen will be stored and shipped to a fuel cell in Kirkwall.

The fuel cell will convert the hydrogen back to electricity, which will be used as an auxiliary power source for the inter-island ferries when docked in the harbour.

In addition to this, the Surf ‘n’ Turf project has designed the fuel cell to marine standards creating a unique facility allowing mariners to train for hydrogen powered ferries.

The project received £1.3m of Scottish Government funding through the Local Energy Challenge Fund, and has now installed the facilities to make, move and use the gas. The first hydrogen ever to be produced from tidal energy was generated in August 2017.

Surf ‘n’ Turf is led by the Kirkwall based team of Scotland-wide energy charity, Community Energy Scotland. They work closely with EMEC, Orkney Islands Council, Eday Renewable Energy, and ITM Power.