Ireland’s first hydrogen valley was unveiled by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD, during a conference on the Renewable Energy Opportunity in Western Ireland held by the Port of Galway.

The Galway Hydrogen Hub (GH2) is a cooperation comprised of seven members: NUI Galway, Galway Port, CIÉ Group and Bus Éireann, Aran Islands Ferries, Lasta Mara Teo, Aer Arann Islands, and SSE Renewables.

GH2 proposes to establish a Hydrogen Valley in Galway, similar to ones already established in other European nations. A Hydrogen Valley is a regional ecosystem that connects hydrogen research, manufacturing, distribution, and transportation to a variety of end customers in the transportation and industrial sectors. Utilizing indigenous renewable hydrogen in Hydrogen Valleys is regarded as a critical first step toward enabling the creation of a new hydrogen economy.

GH2 will establish Galway as Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley, supplying clean hydrogen for use in transportation, industry, and local communities throughout the greater Galway region.

The GH2 consortium’s initial flagship demonstrator project at Galway Harbour will focus on the indigenous generation and supply of pure green hydrogen fuel for public and private vehicles. This will comprise buses and trucks and will result in a multi-modal, zero-emission, renewable hydrogen transportation hub that can be reproduced easily throughout Ireland.

The projected hydrogen transport hub is expected to be completely operational by the second half of 2024, and today’s announcement represents a big step forward in terms of the potential for indigenous renewable fuel production and delivery for both domestic and export markets. This would demonstrate Ireland’s potential as a significant hydrogen producer and exporter.

The establishment of Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley is another step forward in the country’s strategic positioning as a hub for renewable energy generation and energy sector integration. Green hydrogen can contribute significantly to Ireland’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts by ensuring energy supply stability, mitigating long-term energy price fluctuations, and assisting in mitigating long-term energy price volatility.

Lorcan O’Connor, Group Chief Executive, CIÉ said: “Sustainability and decarbonisation are at the heart of public transport. As the CIÉ 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.”

John O’Sullivan, SSE Renewables’ Project Manager for GH2 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.”

Dr Rory Monaghan, Senior Lecturer of Energy Systems Engineering at NUI Galway, 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.”

Green hydrogen is created when renewable electricity is used to electrolyze water and separate it into its component elements of oxygen and hydrogen. While other fuels such as gasoline, diesel, or natural gas leak toxic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned, hydrogen emits solely water vapour. Once created, it may be compressed or liquefied, allowing significant amounts of renewable energy to be transported long distances and stored for months at a time, possibly altering the future for renewable energy-rich countries such as Ireland.

Green hydrogen can be utilized as a zero-emission fuel in applications that are now too complex to electrify directly, such as buses, trucks, planes, and ships, as well as energy-intensive sectors such as steel, cement, fertilizer, and chemicals manufacturing. Green hydrogen, according to the majority of energy analysts, is critical for achieving the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to avert the worst effects of climate change while also reducing the need to import fossil fuels.

The project’s full specifics will be released in the coming weeks, along with information about a public consultation that will take place as part of the project’s development phase.