A second hydrogen refuelling and storage station could be built in Aberdeen.
It would become part of the Aberdeen City Hydrogen Storage Project, which is aimed at establishing a supply chain based around hydrogen product and service development in the city.
Aberdeen’s first hydrogen re-fuelling station is currently nearing completion in Kittybrewster, coinciding with the launch of the city’s zero-emission bus fleet.
The hydrogen bus fleet will be Europe’s largest, with 10 of the green buses set to be in use in the city by the end of the year.
The city council, who will own the second refuelling station and be able to use it to fuel buses, cars and other vehicles, is now looking for a contractor to begin work on the facility.
The station should be able to refuel two buses back-to-back within a 30 minute time frame.
Earlier this year, the council received a grant of £757,630 from the European Regional Development Fund for the demonstration of hydrogen storage.
Labour councillor Barney Crockett said Aberdeen was the leading city in the European Union on hydrogen and this was reflected in the grant backing from the EU.
He said: “We have got the biggest hydrogen fleet of buses coming in now, it may one day be the biggest hydrogen fleet in the world.”
Mr Crockett added that the implementation of the second station would create jobs both within the city and the “wider hydrogen economy”.
The station, he said, would also help tackle emission problems within the city centre, adding: “We have got difficult pollution emission in the middle of town because we have got the harbour in the town.”
The Alternative Fuel infrastructure Directive is trying to develop plans for low-carbon refuelling stations across EU countries.
Many of the engineering skills already in place in the north-east through oil and gas are said to easily transfer to work in hydrogen storage.