Plans for a ‘hydrogen valley’ at Galway Port, which were announced with much fanfare in two years ago, have had to be totally reconfigured after a major backer withdrew its support.

However, a meeting of Galway City Council was told this week that EU funding for the project had been secured, and Galway buses, cars – and even flights to the Aran Islands – could soon be hydrogen fuelled.

The Galway Hydrogen Hub was announced by the then-Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, in April 2022, with plans to produce green hydrogen in Galway, using wind energy from Connemara.

City councillors were told at a meeting on Monday that since then, SSE Renewables – the project’s main backer – had withdrawn, forcing its remaining members to “reconfigure”.

Project Coordinator, Rory Monaghan, a Senior Lecturer of Energy Systems Engineering at University of Galway, told the meeting that the university itself had stepped into the breach and was now leading the project.

As a result, the hydrogen would no longer be produced in Galway but instead would be drawn from the midlands, by road, and stored at a site in the Port of Galway for distribution as part of a €54 million plan.

Caption: Galway Docks.

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