The Government has invested £390m in the alcohol distilling industry, with the stated aim of producing “sustainable gin”. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has announced that the investment will go toward the conversion of a craft gin distillery in Orkney, Scotland from petroleum gas-powered production to hydrogen-powered production. The project, aptly named the HySpirits project will take funding from the £390m government investment, which is made up of a £40m Hydrogen and Fuel Switching Innovation Fund, a £100m competition to enable greater supply of hydrogen across the economy, and a £250m Clean Steel Fund. These funds are being supplied to aid the decarbonisation efforts of the British alcohol industry.

The Government hopes that developments in hydrogen technology will increase the UK's international competitiveness, providing up to 2m jobs to the UK and £170bn in annual exports by 2030. If this pilot project is a success, the Government predicts a reduction in yearly CO2 emissions by about 86 tonnes. Another hydrogen pilot project called Dolphyn is also currently in the works, with plans to mount electrolysers, or devices that split water into its hydrogen and oxygen components, to energy production platforms like wind turbines. Eighteen other hydrogen projects are reported to have secured a share in the government funding.

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