The 29th April saw Anstruther Rotary make a visit to the Bright Green Hydrogen facility in Methil. This proved to be a fascinating insight to the technologies involved in developing hydrogen use as a fuel in support of renewable energy sources - which by their nature may be intermittent.

The very impressive Methil facility includes a first class, modern visitor education centre as well as a fully functioning production plant. Electricity from a 750 KW wind turbine (christened ‘Poppy’ by local children) is fed to the national grid, as well as being used to power an electrolysis unit, which produces hydrogen for storage. When the wind turbine is not working the stored hydrogen is fed through a fuel cell to produce electricity and therefore maintain continuity of supply.

David Hogg the enthusiastic Technical Manager gave a clear yet detailed explanation of the processes being used and this was followed by a tour of the world-leading demonstration project.

As David said, ‘this is an important development, which is aimed at being the most significant and easily accessible renewable hydrogen demonstration project of its kind in the UK. The project is seeking to attract organisations developing alternative green sources of energy to Methil and is already attracting significant interest from companies with interests ranging from research and development to manufacturing’.
 
This was a visit that was eye opening and can be highly recommended. An appreciative vote of thanks, on behalf of Anstruther Rotary, was proposed by club president Roderick Skinner.