Plans for hydrogen plant, near whisky distillery, needing 500,000L of river water daily branded 'madness'

Storegga, a developer of “low carbon solutions”, lodged plans earlier this year to develop a hydrogen plant next to Marypark in Speyside, Moray.

Plans suggest it would need to extract some 500 cubic metres of water - 500,000 litres - from the river per day to turn to hydrogen on a daily basis.

If given the go ahead, the development is said to be “a big step forward in reducing carbon emissions within the distilling industry”. The company claims the facility will produce 25 tonnes of hydrogen a day to help save “more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to removing 35,000 cars from our roads”.

Storegga said the development would also support 30 full-time jobs.

Glenfarclas distillery, next door to the proposed site, said while it is not against hydrogen and new developments for green energy, it strongly opposes the chosen location.

The business’s formal opposition is one of more than 160 objections to the plans, including one from the Speyside Community Council.

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The objections

The distillery’s production manager, Callum Fraser, said he has not been given any information by Storegga as to how the site would benefit the distillery.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Fraser said: “We are not against green energy developments, but to place this in rural Speyside is absolute madness.”

This week, the distillery has had to pause production due to a lack of water in the area. The move comes after a two-week dry spell for the distillery earlier this year for the same reason.

“If the water table is that low, which it is, how can they possibly extract half a million litres a day to make hydrogen energy?” Mr Fraser said. “It’s totally the wrong location.

“There are houses locally that run out of water each year.”

Storegga said it would top up the river water supply, which would come from a borehole connected to the river Spey, with rainwater.

But Mr Fraser said every month this year, there has been noticeably less rainfall compared to 2024, with April seeing 91 per cent less than last year.

“The issue we also have is they will discharge water back into the river,” he said. “This river has a colony of fresh water pearl mussels, which are very rare and protected. Any contamination will kill these off.”

The environmental assessment

After plans were lodged in March, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it had no objections to the development, adding the site would be subject to the relevant pollution regulation.

A Sepa spokesperson told The Scotsman: “Sepa are aware of the proposal to abstract groundwater from land next to the River Spey for hydrogen production and an associated discharge activity from the installation but are yet to receive an application for environmental authorisation.

“We would require any such activity to pass various regulatory tests to ensure there was not a significant adverse impact on the water environment, notably in relation to water quantity, water quality and the species within the water environment.

“Sepa will continue engaging with the operator to discuss the regulatory requirements.”

Other concerns raised by Glenfarclas include having two COMAH sites - establishments that store or handle large quantities of hazardous industrial chemicals - next door to one another.

“Why would you put two sites like that within half a mile of each other?” Mr Fraser said. “This seems absolutely bizarre.

“We store upwards of 100,000 casks on site and if there was some sort of major explosion or problem there, would it cause us a problem? I have asked these questions, but I am not getting any answers.”

Local residents have also voiced concern about the increase in traffic, with estimates of up to 50 trucks moving gas each day.

They said the road was already subject to speeding cars and accidents, with fears the A95 could become an “accident black spot”.

A spokesperson for Storegga said: “The proposed Speyside hydrogen development is supported by significant demand for green hydrogen from customers across the region, particularly the whisky industry, which needs to decarbonise its operations to meet net zero emissions well ahead of 2045 and to continue supporting the regional economy.”

The formal objections come after two public consultations were held last year.

The planning application is now under review by the local authority and, if approved, building will start next year.