MINISTERS have unveiled a plan to help Scotland become a world leader in hydrogen production which they say could generate up to £25 billion a year and provide more than 300,000 jobs.

The blueprint, published yesterday, sets out the sets they will take to help meet the target of producing a sixth of the country's power needs from hydrogen by 2030, some 5 Gigawatts.

A further goal is to produce 25 Gigawatts of hydrogen by 2045 - the year the Scottish Government want the county to be net zero.

Ministers believe if the second target is met £5billion to £25 billion a year could be added to the Scottish economy, protecting or creating 70,000 to more than 300,000 jobs.

Michael Matheson, Net Zero and Energy Secretary, said: “Hydrogen could present Scotland’s greatest industrial opportunity since oil and gas was discovered in the North Sea.

“The technology has tremendous potential to help deliver a just transition for or energy sector, realising huge economic benefits while supporting our net zero transformation.

“Scotland has vast natural resources with which we can become world leaders in renewable hydrogen production and export, while others are looking beyond their borders nations that can produce and provide hydrogen at scale.

“Our Hydrogen Action Plan reaffirms the Scottish Government’s clear commitment to helping our hydrogen sector grow and prosper. We are open to the world and actively collaborating with international partners in order to realise the benefits of hydrogen.”

The plan is being backed with £100 million of funding to new projects in the sector from the Scottish Government, including a £90 million Green Hydrogen Fund which will open at the beginning of next year.

Ministers say Scotland has the resources, the people and the ambition to become a world leader in the production of green hydrogen.

However, a report by the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth Scotland in June this year was more sceptial. It found that hydrogen has low efficiency compared with other sources, such as electrification, while “huge amounts” of renewable energy are required to produce it.

It also highlighted that heat pumps are 168-342 per cent more efficient than hydrogen boilers.

In the Hydrogen Action Plan, Mr Matheson said that hydrogen could be used in parts of the economy which are difficult to electrify.

He said: "Electrification will do the heavy lifting in our march towards net zero, but there are parts of our economy and energy system that are very difficult to electrify, and hydrogen could provide a solution for sectors such as heavy-duty on and off-road transport, shipping, aviation and industrial high temperature heat.

He added: "Scotland has vast renewable energy resources. Subject to planning and consenting decisions and finding a route to market, we have a potential pipeline of over 40 GW of offshore wind generation projects.

"This could enable the use of surplus electrons for the creation of low-cost renewable hydrogen. This generating potential opens up new economic opportunities for our nation to become a leading producer and exporter of renewable hydrogen.

"International demand for hydrogen is growing, with Germany, the EU and the UK Government all increasing their respective hydrogen production ambitions in 2022. Countries that need hydrogen are now looking beyond their borders to nations that can produce and provide that hydrogen at scale."

On the potential economic impact of the sector, Mr Matheson said: "Economic impact estimates based on scenarios developed for the Scottish Government indicate the development of a hydrogen economy in Scotland could mean between 70,000 to over 300,000 jobs could be protected or created with potential Gross Value Added (GVA) impacts of between £5 billion and £25 billion a year by 2045 depending on the scale of production and the extent of exports."

Although it is one of the most common elements in the universe, hydrogen does not exist naturally in a pure form that can be readily used and must be extracted from fossil fuels, biomass or water.

Blue hydrogen is made from fossil fuels but carbon dioxide emissions are captured, transported and stored. It is most commonly used in the petrochemical and oil refining industries.

Green hydrogen is created by splitting water with electricity through a process called water electrolysis.

Opposition parties are likely to be looking closely at the jobs target goals set by the Scottish Government.

Last year, the SNP minister Richard Lochhead insisted Scotland was "on the cusp of a truly astonishing green jobs revolution" despite his Government only bringing forward less than one fifth of the promised positions by 2020.

The Scottish Government has been criticised after a promise of 130,000 green jobs by 2020 only resulted in little more than 20,000 people being hired.