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Mid-July brings the Kilmacanogue Horse Show, an event that changes little from year to year with ponies being jumped, horses and carriages being drawn, sheep being sheared and lots of chat. This year’s event also featured a Brass Band and several stalls including one set up by the promoters of the Codling Wind Park.

It was a busy stand as people sought to find out not only about that Wind Park and other planned such developments located on sandbanks off the East Coast running from Wexford to Louth, but also about all other forms of alternative energy. The promoters of the Codling Wind Park are planning for the completion of the first phase in six years’ time, when the 140 turbines off the North Wicklow coast will be delivering between 900 and 1500 mW of electricity, contributing significantly to the Government’s 2030 target of having 80% of electric power to be generated from renewable sources, with five giga-watts of that coming from offshore wind.

The interest at the Show in alternative energy may well have been sparked by the two-day heatwave earlier that week and the scary pictures of forests and some houses burning throughout Europe.

If all, or even most, of the renewable energy projects currently being planned are delivered within the next ten years or so, then perhaps all domestic electric power requirements in Ireland will be met by them. As the projects deliver more powerful and efficient electricity volumes and the Eirgrid is developed in parallel, then the production of green hydrogen becomes not just possible, but essential, if the power wastage which is already happening on windy days when there is no use for the electricity generated is not to be wasted.

Up to recently the answer to “excess” power production has been seen to store it in batteries for use later and, indeed, the technology for these is also leaping ahead, but now there is a realisation that Green Hydrogen is a much more interesting option. Regularly in ‘Fleet Transport’ you will read about the introduction by several truck and van manufacturers of hydrogen powered vehicles. Yes, these may cost up to three times as much as normal Euro 6 diesel engine vehicles, but as was the case with electric powered cars and vans, costs are bound to fall quickly, perhaps meeting fossil fuel powered vehicles along the way as costs rise. On a local level, Feargal O’Neill and ATPO recently put together a webinar on the whole question of alternative fuel use in Commercial Transport vehicles and we reported on this in a recent ‘Fleet Transport’ ezine newsletter. One of the objectives of the event was to feel out the ground for the establishment of an Irish Association for Sustainable Transport.

During the same week, Airbus and Linde, a large industrial gas company announced the signing of a cooperation agreement for the development of hydrogen infrastructure at airports worldwide. The companies will work on developing a hydrogen supply chain including the integration of refueling into normal ground handling operations. Both companies will launch pilot projects early in 2023 at several airports and will also examine the potential for the manufacture of SAF (sustainable aviation fuels) using synthetically produced liquid hydrocarbons through the conversion of renewable electricity.

An example of what can be achieved with an offshore wind power and hydrogen combination might be the recently announced construction of a 200-megawatt electrolyser at Maasvlakte in the port of Rotterdam by Shell Nederland B.V., planned to be operational within three years. The unit will produce up to 60,000 kg of renewable hydrogen per day and the renewable power for the electrolyser will come from the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kurt, which is partly owned by Shell. Perhaps ironically some of the output will be used to replace grey hydrogen, which is fossil fuel based, in the Shell Energy refinery and will partially decarbonise that facility’s production of energy products including diesel and jet fuel.

We are already seeing the fallouts from Climate Change and from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What further incentives do Irish Marine Planners and other agents of the State need to push ahead with getting real volumes of renewable energy under production?

So, this Climate Change thing is serious after all...

From Where I’m Sitting – Howard Knott – howard@fleet.ie