(Galway / Ireland) – A hydrogen hub is to be built on the west coast of Ireland. This was announced by Irish Prime Minister (“Taoiseach”) Micheál Martin at the “Renewable Energy Opportunity in the West of Ireland” conference in the Atlantic port city of Galway.
Hydrogen center in Galway
To advance this, a “Galway Hydrogen Hub” (GH2) has been founded. Its goal is to build a “Hydrogen Valley” modeled on other European regions: a complex center for hydrogen research, production, distribution and transport in order to make the energy source manageable for local customers such as communities, industry and the transport sector. 
The consortium wants to develop an initial demonstration project in the port of Galway, Ireland's third largest city. A network for the production, delivery and distribution of green hydrogen for public and private vehicles, including buses and trucks, is expected to be operational in the second half of 2024.
The GH2 group currently consists of seven members. Included are the National University of Ireland (NUI Galway), Port of Galway, the state transport company Córas lompair Éireann (CIÉ Group), the bus company Bus Éireann, the ferry and transport ship operators Aran Islands Ferries and Lasta Mara Teoranta, the Galway airline Aviation Services Ltd. through its Aer Arann Islands brand and SSE Renewables, the renewable energy subsidiary of gas and electricity supplier SSE plc.
Details will be announced soon
“The development of Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley in Galway will allow us to use domestic renewable energy to produce green hydrogen for local air, sea, road and rail transport and industry,” said John O’Sullivan , SSE Renewables Project Manager for GH2. Details will be announced “in the coming weeks.”
Photo above
In Galway at the mouth of the Corrib (Abhainn na Gaillimhe), Ireland's third largest city and European Capital of Culture 2020, several companies are planning a large-scale hydrogen project. © Federal Government
Photo middle
The Galway Consortium (left to right): Dermott Crombie (Aran Ferries, Lasta Mara Teoranta), Rory Monaghan (NUI Galway), Stephen Kent (CIE), Conor O'Dowd (Port Galway), Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Louise Glennon and John O 'Sullivan (SSE Renewables), Jarlath Conneely (Aer Arrann) and Maurice O'Gorman (Port of Galway). © SSE Renewable
