While Northern Ireland is a renewable energy success story, with over 40% of all electricity consumed here coming from renewable sources, we need to do more if Northern Ireland is to meet its net zero emissions targets.
A particular challenge going forward will be to capture excess renewable generation when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining for later use when renewable output is low.
Addressing this problem of ‘curtailment’ will require long duration energy storage solutions. One option currently being pursued in other jurisdictions is converting excess renewable electrical energy into green hydrogen – a versatile energy carrier that can also support long-term storage.
Fortunately, Northern Ireland is well placed to develop a green hydrogen economy with our world class renewable energy resources, and our significant underground salt cavern storage potential. We believe this potential can be realised through the development of a green hydrogen hub – similar to schemes being explored in other regions. Such hubs develop a self-contained hydrogen economy within a specified geographical region – with hydrogen production, transportation, and storage infrastructure, as well as end user demand.
With the right policy support, Northern Ireland could develop a hydrogen hub within the Greater Belfast area, supporting decarbonisation, managing renewable oversupply and kick-start e-fuel production locally.
More detail on the potential of a Greater Belfast green hydrogen hub can be found in our latest publication, available online here.
Mutual Energy has a dedicated Energy Transition team focused on identifying solutions that can deliver decarbonisation targets for Northern Ireland. To find out more about the work of the team and to get in touch, head to our Energy Transition page.
