The first-ever distillery to use hydrogen from renewables could soon be producing environmentally friendly gin in Orkney. The HySpirits project with the Orkney Distillery and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) will explore the possibility of converting a craft gin distillery in Orkney in Scotland from using LPG to hydrogen to make the process more environmentally friendly.

This environmentally friendly distillery could use hydrogen power to produce sustainable gin as part of £390 million government investment to reduce emissions from industry. Working with BIGHIT partner EMEC, the HySpirits project would use this locally-produced ‘green’ hydrogen to supply zero-carbon heat for the gin distillation process. If successful, this would reduce emissions from the plant by around 86 tonnes of CO2 every year – the equivalent annual emissions from 10 homes or 18 cars – and show how the UK’s growing craft brewing industry can switch from using fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives.

HySpirits is just one out of 20 projects that have secured a share of up to £40 million of UK government funding to explore how the use of hydrogen can be rolled out across the UK – a crucial step towards the end of the UK’s contribution to global warming. Out of these, a further 7 projects have been selected to develop their concepts covering a range of sectors including steel, food and drinks, nickel, cement, and glass. The best of these will be awarded up to £7.5 million to move their technologies towards commercialisation.