A €9.39 million energy sustainability project, known as GenComm and delivered by 10 European partners, including NUIG, is meeting in Galway this week to launch the first of its White Papers on smart hydrogen.
Dr Rory Monaghan of the NUI Galway Ryan Institute for Marine, Environmental and Energy Research said:
"The White Paper aims to inform stakeholders in the energy industry and community energy sector about the potential for hydrogen to address issues of intermittency, curtailment, profitability and energy security in renewable energy networks. Hydrogen is increasingly viewed as a practical way to store electricity and give it new uses, such as in transportation. "
Denis Naughten TD, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, said:
"Communities that are resilient in the face of climate change and the insecurities of international energy supply chains are key priorities of EU and national policies. Enabling communities across Europe to store and use their renewable energy resources in innovative and beneficial ways is the objective of GenComm. I welcome this project and the empowering effect it will have on our communities."
NUI Galway has a key role in the GenComm project, managing a Work Package that will look at the `long term effects' of the project. The main output of the project is an H2-based energy model; NUI Galway will adapt this model to a Decision Support Tool (DST), allowing communities to project and implement their own H2-based energy matrix.
Ciaran Ó h'Ógartaigh, President of NUI Galway, said:
"The scope of the project and the size of the award are testament to the strength and innovative nature of the project and the high calibre of partner organisations as we seek to work together to deliver hydrogen-based solutions that will help address energy sustainability challenges to communities across North-West Europe."
Paul McCormack, GenComm Programme Manager and Innovation Manager at Belfast Met, added:
"GenComm seeks to address the energy sustainability challenges of North West European communities through the implementation of smart hydrogen-based energy matrixes. The GenComm project seeks to address the energy sustainability challenges of the North West European communities through the implementation of smart hydrogen-based energy matrixes. The use of SMART H2 as an energy carrier can mitigate these challenges by helping match energy demand with renewables energy supply, while enabling flexibility between the mixed uses of renewable energy. The partners in the GenComm project are working to overcome these challenges through the creation of a techno-economic model and investment decision support tool that can technically and financially optimize the production and commercialisation of SMART H2."
For more information on Project GENCOMM visit: http://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/gencomm-generating-energy-secure-communities/
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