A consortium including SSE Renewables and Port of Galway has unveiled plans for Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley.
The Galway Hydrogen Hub (GH2) was announced today by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD, who was speaking at a conference hosted by the Port of Galway (pictured), on the subject of the Renewable Energy Opportunity in the West of Ireland.
The other members of GH2 are NUI Galway, CIE Group and Bus Eireann, Aran Islands Ferries, Lasta Mara Teo and Aer Arann Islands.
GH2’s proposal is to develop a Hydrogen Valley in the Galway region, similar to those launched in other European countries.
A Hydrogen Valley is a regional ecosystem that links hydrogen research, production, distribution, and transportation with various end users such as transport and industry.
The utilisation of indigenous renewable hydrogen at Hydrogen Valleys is considered an important step towards enabling the development of a new hydrogen economy.
The GH2 consortium’s intention is to develop an initial flagship demonstrator project at Galway Harbour, for the indigenous production and supply of clean green hydrogen fuel for public and private vehicles.
This will include buses and trucks and deliver a multi-modal, zero emission, renewable hydrogen transport hub that can be easily replicated across Ireland.
The hub could be expected to be fully operational by the second half of 2024.
SSE Renewables project manager for GH2 John O’Sullivan said: “Our consortium has come together with the objective of not only using green hydrogen to realise new renewable energy solutions for Ireland but to also deliver the country’s first Hydrogen Valley.
“Green hydrogen is gaining global recognition as a means of decarbonising heavy duty and long-distance transport as well as industry.
“The development of Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley in Galway Harbour will allow us to utilise indigenous renewable energy to produce green hydrogen for use by local air, sea, road and rail transport alongside industry.
“As part of the integrated SSE Group, SSE Renewables has a view across the whole energy value chain and so is uniquely positioned to deliver this green hydrogen solution for the consortium, helping to kickstart the development of a new hydrogen economy in the West of Ireland.”
CIE group chief executive Lorcan O’Connor said: “Sustainability and decarbonisation are at the heart of public transport.
“As the CIE Group is by far the country’s largest public transport provider, we are delighted to work with our partners in the GH2 consortium to ensure we are at the forefront of the opportunity hydrogen fuel will provide in meeting both our own decarbonisation targets, and those of the state.
“It will ensure we have explored a complementary mix of zero emissions technologies, with the current focus on electrification, to power low carbon transport and meet our 2030 targets and net zero target by 2050.
“What we develop and learn in this innovative partnership in Galway could be transformative for sustainability in the transport sector as a whole.”
NUI Galway senior lecturer of energy systems engineering Rory Monaghan said: “The future sustainable growth of our region will depend in large part on the availability of secure indigenous renewable energy.
“We are witnessing huge strides in the greening of our electricity grid with wind, but we use twice as much energy for transport, almost all of which is imported fossil fuel. The key innovation of GH2 is the use of wind to drive a zero emission, multi modal transport sector.”
More details of the project will be released in the coming weeks, the consortium said.