A SPANISH owned green energy giant has pulled the plug on plans for a ‘trailblazing’ Scottish hydrogen plant after receiving almost £10million of taxpayers’ money.
ScottishPower was awarded £9.4million from the UK Government towards the first-of-a-kind hydrogen storage and refuelling plant at Whitelee Wind Farm in Eaglesham almost four years ago.
They were leading the project in partnership with BOC and ITM Power, forming the Green Hydrogen for Scotland partnership.
The controversial project, which was bitterly opposed by the local community over safety concerns, also included a solar farm and battery energy storage system to power the plant.
News that ScottishPower was putting the project on hold came out of the blue as it only recently applied for hazardous substances consent from East Ayrshire Council in relation to operating the hydrogen plant.
Now the local authority has confirmed that the company has since withdrawn its application, effectively mothballing the entire development.
Campaign group Scotland Against Spin welcomed the news and called for an urgent probe into the ‘waste of public money’.
A spokesman for ScottishPower said: ‘We have taken the decision to pause our green hydrogen projects.’
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