Black & Veatch has completed execution of a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the Whitelee Green H₂ Project, a proposed development by owner ScottishPower Energy Retail Limited. The contract was awarded to Black & Veatch in October of 2024.

The first phase of the plan, located 15 miles south of Glasgow, was awarded via U.K. government funding support as part of its H₂ Allocation Round 1 (HAR1) process. The project will produce green H₂ via a power supply connection to the U.K.’s largest onshore windfarm, Whitelee Windfarm, creating a valuable renewable fuel with zero carbon emissions.

Green H₂ effectively provides a resilient fuel source by using electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, and converting it using an electrolyzer—a device that uses electricity to split water into H₂ and oxygen through electrolysis. Green H₂ then operates as a transportable and fungible fuel, ensuring low to no carbon emissions in the process.

As the U.K. government shortlists new green H₂ projects for funding as part of its H₂ Allocation Round (HAR2), Black & Veatch continues to work with clients using the company’s power generation and lower carbon expertise to plan, design and build green H₂ plants. Black & Veatch has recently completed more than 200 front-end loading (FEL) studies globally with 245 MW of green H₂ projects completed or under construction.

“ScottishPower develops green H₂ responsibly and we selected Black & Veatch because of their decades of experience in H₂ and strong commitment to safety,” said Mark Bradley, H₂ Director, ScottishPower Green H₂ Limited. “We take a holistic development approach, consulting with local stakeholders to ensure we are able to successfully develop low carbon sources of energy for our customers.”

The multi-disciplinary engineering team from Black & Veatch delivered a design with safety at the forefront and leveraged the internal experience of constructing and commissioning H₂ production facilities in other regions. The FEED study includes the incorporation of the OEM’s electrolyzer package design, as well as the design of all balance of plant scope including H₂ compression and a tube-trailer dispensing station. The first phase of this project covers 10 MW of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis, and the conceptual design from Black & Veatch includes a second phase that incorporates an additional 10 MW in electrolysis capacity. The second phase has been shortlisted for the U.K. government’s HAR2 process.

Black & Veatch is also the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) provider for Advanced Clean Energy Storage I (ACES I), a green H₂ hub in Utah in the U.S. and is considered a leading global innovator in the design and engineering of first of a kind, at-scale green H₂ plants.

“Our clients entrust us to help engineer and deploy innovative, bankable green H₂ energy infrastructure to transition them to lower carbon solutions,” said Youssef Merjaneh, senior vice president and managing director, Europe Middle East and Africa, Black & Veatch. “This innovative project will produce green H₂ from adjacent onshore wind as part of the U.K. government’s HAR funding program, and we look forward to continued collaboration with the ScottishPower team.”