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Aberdeen City Council is seeking suppliers for the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub Strategic Partnership

Aberdeen aims to be a world leading Hydrogen City and will develop Scotland’s first commercially scalable, investable hydrogen production and distribution facility. Aberdeen City Council has published a Prior Information Notice (PIN) on Public Contracts Scotland seeking an experienced, dynamic and innovative strategic partner to form a long-term joint venture with the Council, the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub Strategic Partnership.

The Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub Strategic Partnership will be required to produce the design, build, operation and maintenance of a new green hydrogen production facility together with associated refuelling, distribution and transportation infrastructure within the Council’s boundaries or within close proximity thereto.

The Council envisages that the strategic partner will bring a wealth of commercial expertise to the table with a view to contributing towards economic growth and the development of robust supply chains and wider employment opportunities. As part of the contract the strategic partner will be expected to provide finance and investment for the opportunity and competent resources including scoping, design, procurement, project management, implementation, delivery, operation, maintenance, commercial support and technical expertise.

The contract will be delivered in three phases;

• Phase 1 – will include the procurement of a hydrogen production facility for public sector consumption of a resilient, cost effective supply of green hydrogen on a commercial basis to support both existing and proposed transport projects.
• Phase 2 – envisages supply to larger volume utilisation hydrogen vehicles such as rail, freight and marine.
• Phase 3 – will involve the supply of hydrogen for heat and export.

The joint venture will enter into a Hydrogen Supply Framework Agreement with the Council. It is anticipated that the strategic partner will be willing to work with a broad range of organisations, including those working in Aberdeen’s community, energy and sustainability sectors to facilitate the delivery of low carbon energy projects on a city-wide and potentially regional basis.

The Council has agreed in principle to fund £19.4 million from its Capital Programme as investment in the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub Strategic Partnership.

The contract will not be split up into Lots. The duration on the contract will be for an initial 10 year period with two subsequent optional extensions of 5 years each. The estimated value excluding VAT is £215,000,000.

Next steps

The deadline date for this contract opportunity is 22 July 2021 at 12:00pm. If you are interested in bidding for Aberdeen City Council’s Hydrogen Hub Strategic Partnership contract opportunity, please register your interest on the Public Contracts Scotland website.

Support from the Supplier Development Programme

The Supplier Development Programme has previously posted about supplier engagement on the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub. Though the Strategic Partnership may be more suitable for larger organisations, there are certain to be opportunities related to this development in the future. Therefore, SDP recommends that Scottish micro, small and medium businesses access free training now with SDP Scotland to prepare for upcoming opportunities.

Aberdeen City Council will be using the PCS online portal to manage supplier opportunities. Interested suppliers are invited to attend SDP’s free Using PCS and other portals webinars.