The Scottish government has awarded £9 million ($12 million) in funding to support ZeroAvia’s plans to manufacture its hydrogen-electric propulsion systems at a new facility near Glasgow Airport. On May 21, the company announced it will build a Hydrogen Center of Excellence in Scotland that will be the main location for producing advanced high temperature proton membrane fuel cell stacks.
The new facility operate in tandem with the Propulsion Center of Excellence in Washington state, where ZeroAvia produces electric motors and power electronics. The company is also set to expand its research and development and aircraft test center at Cotswold Airport in the southwest of England.
ZeroAvia is developing its 600-kilowatt ZA600 power train for regional airliners carrying up to 20 passeners. It is also working on the 2-megawatt ZA2000 propulsion system, which it says could support aircraft with up to 80 seats, such as the Dash 8 400 and the ATR72.
This week’s announcement about the new production capacity did not include an update on when the ZA600 system will be approved to retrofit aircraft. The company has previously said the first converted aircraft could enter service in 2025, with the ZA2000 conversions to follow in 2027.
The £9 million Regional Selective Assistance grant from Scottish Enterprise follows an earlier £20 million investment in ZeroAvia’s Series C funding round from the Scottish National Investment Bank. The UK National Wealth Fund invested a further £32 million in that funding round, which also drew support from Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and Saudi Arabia’s Neom Investment Fund.
“Scotland has the skills, the talent and the innovation to be at the forefront of efforts to tackle the climate emergency while developing significant new opportunities to grow the economy,” commented Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney. “ZeroAvia’s decision to establish a base in Scotland, creating 350 highly-skilled jobs in the process, is the perfect illustration of Scotland’s growing reputation in the global transition to net zero [carbon].”