Ireland – Government to kickstart green hydrogen national strategy.
The Government will kickstart a so-called ‘green hydrogen’ national strategy before July, after a major report said Ireland was lagging behind other countries, despite enormous potential.
Junior minister at the Department of Environment, Ossian Smyth, said a public consultation on a green hydrogen strategy will be launched in the first half of the year, after first examining where the burgeoning form of renewable energy will be needed most.
Green hydrogen produces energy through the electrolysis of water, while eliminating emissions by using renewable energy.
Its supporters say it could completely revolutionise clean energy, while its detractors say it is too cumbersome and costly to achieve on a mass scale.
Cork is well-suited to becoming a leading green hydrogen region because of its geographical and climate advantages, experts have said, with major private investment already being made in recent months.
Former sceptic turned enthusiastic supporter, Cork renewable energy expert Cian Desmond, said in a Wind Energy Ireland-commissioned report last week that “the potential for the domestic green hydrogen market is enormous”.
Mr Desmond, of specialist geotechnical engineering consultancy Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), told the Irish Examiner that he was now a “complete convert” as technology improved and associated costs plummeted.
Wind Energy Ireland said that the country is lagging behind other European nations, and called for a “robust” national strategy to be outlined by the end of June that would “set out targets across industry, heavy road transport, shipping, aviation, and power generation”.
In response to Fine Gael senator Joe O’Reilly’s query on the development of a national strategy, Mr Smyth told the Seanad that the current Climate Action Plan is a “living document” that will be updated annually to reflect developments and targets. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.
Mr Smyth.
My department continues to work with relevant departments, agencies, and stakeholders to carry out research and develop policies to support the uptake of green hydrogen, and I expect a strategy focusing on development of green hydrogen to be included in the Climate Action Plan 2022.
A “very important” aspect of green hydrogen is its potential to support the decarbonisation of transport, he added.
“It’s envisaged that green hydrogen can contribute to the decarbonisation of those hard-to-abate sectors, such as heavy goods vehicles, shipping, and potentially as a synthetic fuel for aviation during the second half of this decade.”
Government to kickstart ‘green hydrogen’ national strategy, January 27, 2022
