Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

100 jobs for Speyside in £3.1m boost for whisky industry

The Scottish Government funding will support the development of a green hydrogen hub in Moray.

Behind the scenes at Cardhu Distillery on Speyside.
Behind the scenes at Cardhu Distillery on Speyside. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

A cash injection will bring 100 jobs to Speyside as part of a £3.1 million fund to develop a “greener” industry.

It’s part of plans to develop a so-called hydrogen hub in Moray, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy.

It can be used for fuel for transportation, commercial and industrial heat or stored to meet future demand.

John Swinney on a trip to the the Speyside Distiller visitor centre in Aviemore during the recent general election campaign. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson.

The green hydrogen produced in Speyside will provide fuel and energy for more than 40 industrial sites across the region including whisky distillers and distiller hauliers.

The project is expected to save around 190,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

This is the equivalent of a 35% drop in the Scottish whisky sector’s 2018 baseline emissions or the same as taking around 135,000 cars from roads in Scotland.

Jobs boost

Gillian Martin, the Scottish Government’s acting energy secretary, said the funding will help create job opportunities.

“The hub will also support decarbonisation of Scotland’s iconic whisky industry, which currently relies on energy intensive production techniques – by creating clean energy and heat used for distilling and fuel for transportation”, she added.

Acting Energy Secretary Gillian Martin. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

“There is significant potential for the development of green hydrogen production in Scotland, due to our capability to generate so much renewable energy from offshore wind – crucial to the process of making green hydrogen.”

The Scottish Government’s funding will be matched by low-carbon firm Storegga – with investment totalling £6.2m.

It complements a total of almost £7m from the Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, which has supported 31 projects across the country since 2022.

Conversation