Big idea · an ambitious project

Curtailed-Wind Green Hydrogen

Don't switch the turbines off — turn the surplus into clean fuel.

Instead of paying wind turbines to switch off when the grid is full, redirect that surplus into a green-hydrogen generator — using electrolysis to make hydrogen (a clean fuel for HGVs, buses and, blended, the gas network) with oxygen as a saleable by-product. Wasted wind becomes local fuel, local jobs and income.

Why now

When the grid can't take the power, turbines are curtailed and we pay them to stop — about £343m wasted in Scotland in 2025 (over 10 TWh). That power is nearly free at the point of curtailment. An electrolyser near a constrained wind farm can soak up that surplus and store the energy as hydrogen — easy to store and truck, unlike electricity. It runs only when power would otherwise be wasted, so it relieves the grid rather than competing with it.

Right here in Moray — the real numbers

This isn't abstract for us. Our own EnviroWatch wind-curtailment tracker pulls live Balancing-Mechanism data — and in a single recent week it recorded eight wind farms across Moray, Speyside and the neighbouring Highlands (about 2,900 MW between them) being paid an estimated £4.4 million to switch off, wasting roughly 150 GWh of clean power. Among them:

• Moray East, Moray West & Beatrice (offshore, ~2,400 MW) — landing their power in Moray at Blackhillock, near Keith.
• Dorenell (228 MW, above Dufftown), plus Berry Burn, Gordonbush, Glen Kyllachy and Moy — the onshore cluster on our own hills.

That one week of local waste alone holds enough energy to make around 2,800 tonnes of hydrogen. No scheme would capture all of it — but it shows the feedstock on our doorstep is enormous, and nearly free at the point of curtailment.

A right-sized local scheme

A modest 20 MW electrolyser, sited near the Moray grid landing point and running only on otherwise-wasted power (roughly a third of the time), would produce on the order of 1,000–1,200 tonnes of green hydrogen a year. Indicatively, that could:

• Displace roughly 4–5 million litres of diesel and avoid on the order of ~12,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year.
• Fuel hydrogen buses, refuse trucks and HGVs across Moray.
• Offer Speyside distilleries a route to green process heat — decarbonising whisky with the wind that's currently being binned on the hills above them (Dorenell sits right by Dufftown).
• Produce clean oxygen as a saleable by-product — industry, aquaculture, medical.

Figures indicative: hydrogen at ~50–55 kWh/kg; the curtailment £ is a modelled estimate from live balancing-mechanism data (not settled cashflow), and a windy week runs above the annual average. A feasibility study would firm up siting, sizing and — critically — committed buyers.

How it works

• Surplus wind electricity powers an electrolyser.
• It splits water into hydrogen (captured, compressed, stored) and oxygen (a clean by-product, saleable to industry, medical and aquaculture).
• The hydrogen is the fuel — fuel-cell HGVs and buses, back-up power, and (blended) the gas grid.
• Even the process heat can warm nearby buildings. Nothing wasted.

This is real, not sci-fi

Scotland is already doing versions of this: the Scottish Government's offshore-wind-to-hydrogen work, the Fife H100 hydrogen-to-homes network, the Argyll hydrogen hub on a wind farm, and Heriot-Watt / ClimateXchange research on hydrogen to cut curtailment. Curtailed-power hydrogen has been modelled at under £50/MWh. The concept is credible; the challenge is scale, capital and securing buyers.

What it could do — and who benefits

• Clean local fuel for hauliers, bus operators and, blended, the gas network.
• Cuts waste and emissions — uses binned clean power; displaces diesel and fossil gas.
• Local jobs and skills, and a visitable flagship of the energy transition.
• Income back to charity — any community-benefit surplus funds our other work.

What we're honest about

• It's capital-heavy — electrolysers, storage and safety run to £-millions — so SP's role is community partner and champion, not "SP builds a hydrogen plant".
• Converting power to hydrogen and back loses energy at each step — it makes sense because the alternative is wasting the power entirely, and for uses that are hard to electrify.
• It needs committed buyers before building, the right grid connection to access curtailed power, and specialist safety partners. We'd start with a feasibility study, not by buying kit.

The questions we'd love answered

• Do you run vehicles, plant or heat that are hard to electrify and could use hydrogen?
• Would you (a haulier, bus operator, gas network, estate) consider being an offtake customer?
• Are you an energy developer or wind operator who'd explore a curtailed-power electrolyser?
• Would you support a community stake so local people share the benefit?

The practical answer to our Wasted Wind, Higher Bills case. Sources: 2025 Scottish curtailment (~£343m / >10 TWh); the local per-farm figures are from our own EnviroWatch wind-curtailment tracker (live Elexon balancing-mechanism data; modelled estimate, one recent week — not settled cashflow); hydrogen output at ~50–55 kWh/kg (electrolyser incl. compression); CO₂/diesel from standard fuel factors. Wider context: Scottish Government offshore-wind-to-hydrogen work; Fife H100; Argyll hydrogen hub; Heriot-Watt / ClimateXchange curtailment-to-hydrogen research; curtailed-power hydrogen modelled under £50/MWh. Figures indicative, September 2026.