Thursday, 01 April 2021 GenComm project partners, National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway), Dublin City University and HyEnergy, have published a new report into the opportunities presented by hydrogen in Northern Ireland s green energy transition.
The report was funded by Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy to contribute to the evidence base for the development of a new Energy Strategy.
The report reviews progress Northern Ireland is making towards its decarbonization goals, its unique challenges, and opportunities, and identifies the potential roles for hydrogen in enabling greater renewable energy deployment, through energy storage and reduced curtailment and sector coupling. It then identifies energy demand sectors that hydrogen could help in decarbonizing, such as buses, trains, and its use in the gas grid for heating. The research team presents the results of case studies for green hydrogen, hydrogen produced by electrolysis powered by renewable ele
BBC News
By Chris Baraniuk
Last year was a record breaker for the UK s wind power industry.
Wind generation reached its highest ever level, at 17.2GW on 18 December, while wind power achieved its biggest share of UK electricity production, at 60% on 26 August.
Yet occasionally the huge offshore wind farms pump out far more electricity than the country needs - such as during the first Covid-19 lockdown last spring when demand for electricity sagged.
But what if you could use that excess power for something else? What we re aiming to do is generate hydrogen directly from offshore wind, says Stephen Matthews, Hydrogen Lead at sustainability consultancy ERM.
Valentia Harbour
Both Michael Cecil, Rathlin Island Development and Community Association Chairman and Colum O’Connell, Chairman of the Valentia Energy Group in Kerry have welcomed the new courses. DCU have developed the Masters major and undergraduate degrees enrolling in 2020-21 including modules on Advanced Sustainable Energy Systems that must include a sustainable hydrogen element.
Dr. James Carton, DCU Assistant Professor in Energy Sustainability and Hydrogen acknowledges the role the Irish islands can have in this new academic offering saying, “Cormac Walsh of Energy CoOps Ireland and the ‘Valentia Islands’ project aim to build a relationship with DCU around our new sustainable Masters offering, working together on a shared learning journey that may include field trips, guest speakers, project supervision and shared research engagements.”