Scotland-based H2 Green won a grant valuing 500,000 British pounds from the U.K. government’s Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) for its planned Inverness green hydrogen hub, the company announced in a March 30 press release.

NZHF was initiated to fund the development of new low carbon hydrogen production to de-risk investment and reduce lifetime costs in the U.K.

H2 Green’s hydrogen hub was one of 15 applicants selected in the first round of the fund, which is designated to provide development expenditure to front-end engineering design (FEED) and post-FEED activities aiming to build the pipeline of hydrogen production projects.

“This grant award is a fantastic step by the U.K. government to accelerate H2 Green’s progress in Inverness and in its network of sites across the Scottish Highlands,” said H2 Green Chairman Graham Cooley.

The Inverness hub will supply green hydrogen to large-volume commercial transport customers such as trains, buses, trucks and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). H2 Green secured agreements with Eversholt Rail to facilitate the wide-scale deployment of their hydrogen-powered trains on the Far North and West Highland Lines of Scotland.

The hub’s first production is planned for 2025 and will be powered by a combination of wind and solar photovoltaic devices backed by a grid-connected renewable energy supply. It will scale from six to 24 megawatts over time, with the capacity at peak to generate up to 10 tonnes of green hydrogen per day, enough to fuel 400 HGVs.

“The grant is a significant milestone in our plans to support the Highlands to cut transport emissions using clean, green hydrogen,” said H2 Green managing director Luke Johnson. “Transport represents around 30% of the U.K.’s emissions and our project supports the government’s ambition to deliver 10 gigawatts (GW) hydrogen production by 2030, with 5 GW of that coming directly from green hydrogen.”

H2 Green is a wholly owned subsidiary of Getech Group Plc, which locates new energy and mineral resources and works with organizations to decarbonize operations. In addition to the Inverness hub, Getech has also secured exclusive development rights for hydrogen, renewable energy and ammonia importation at Shoreham Port in West Sussex, England, to create a green energy hub.