Skills shortage is holding back Ireland’s green hydrogen strategy

Industry leaders say a robust green hydrogen sector could reduce Ireland's vulnerability to price fluctuations or supply disruptions

Ireland's infrastructure and grid capacity are at the forefront for investment to get the green energy sector off the ground, but investing in skills and people also needs to be a priority.

Hydrogen is likely to become a hot topic on the political agenda this year as an election looms and bets increase that it will take place before the March 2025 deadline.

Business representative groups Ibec in the Republic and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in the North jointly published a report found that there should be an “all island approach” to the development of green energy, including hydrogen, to instil confidence in investors.

The report, published in February, also highlighted the need for a “speedy roll out of critical energy infrastructure” including hydrogen electrolysers as well as offshore and onshore wind farms, solar PV farms and energy storage facilities to achieve Net Zero targets.

However, in both the North and in the Republic, developers face immense difficulties in delivering projects on time.

The reasons for these delays include cumbersome planning processes, regulatory uncertainty, a lack of resources in key agencies, and lengthy judicial review challenges.

The report suggested that collaboration could be “helpful in unlocking the full potential” of bioenergy, hydrogen, and the circular economy, especially when it comes to decarbonising “hard-to-mitigate sectors” like road freight and shipping and aviation which are essential for the an island economy to thrive in.

Hydrogen can be used to power heating appliances and energy generators which can be used for heavy machinery and haulage systems.

Infrastructure and gird capacity are at the forefront for investment to get the green energy sector off the ground, however, founding member of Hydrogen Ireland Paul McCormack said investing in skills and people should also be a priority.

“If we look across all of Irish industry, public and private, there’s a shortage of people,” said Mr McCormack.

“Where are the scholars that will place Ireland ahead of the hydrogen curb and maintain that,” he said.

Paul McCormack,  founding member of Hydrogen Ireland,  described the Government’s hydrogen plan as “cautious” and “measured”, but he added that he would like to see it “accelerated in certain areas” but at a reasonable pace to prevent “shocks”. 

Mr McCormack added that there’s an opportunity to “pivot the economy” in this regard and retrain people who have worked in fossil fuel businesses.

“We have people involved in older energy sectors, and we can transition those,” he said.

In addition the need for more skilled staff on the ground developing hydrogen projects, Mr McCormack also said more bodies are needed in to focus solely on green energy policy at government level.

“The government at the minute are trying to keep all the plates spinning with the staff that they have,” he said.

Mr McCormack said the Republic “needs an energy minister that’s going to maintain Ireland’s position in Europe’s renewable energy sector” while also making the country more attractive to become a destination for development.

He described the Government’s hydrogen plan as “cautious” and “measured” but he added that he would like to see it “accelerated in certain areas” but at a reasonable pace to prevent “shocks”.

 “If we look at our dependence on fossil fuels, it’s not going to change overnight, it has to be a transition. And that transition has to managed very carefully to ensure the shocks to the system are minimised and the advantages delivered are maximised,” said Mr McCormack.

“We don’t want to go down a route where we end up with greater fuel poverty in the winter by driving up the prices of scarce fuel sources,” he said.

For this transition to happen though, Mr McCormack echoed calls from Ibec and the CBI for policymakers to create an environment that is attractive to investors.

He urged the Irish Government to become a “lighthouse” of sorts to provide clear guidance and strategy for developers and investors in the green hydrogen space.

Slow and uncertain development across the renewable energy sector “doesn’t allow for investors to have confidence in the market growth,” said Mr McCormack.

“Clean energy is a high-risk investment but clean energy without strategy is a no-go area for venture capitalists,” he added.

Hydrogen has been hailed as a vital cog in the fledgeling renewable energy machine though the creation of fuel cells which are increasingly being used by energy storage systems, but it remains a controversial topic for some green energy enthusiasts.

Hydrogen gas can be produced through a chemical process known as electrolysis, where electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This is known as ‘green’ hydrogen.

In 2022, less than 0.1% of global hydrogen, or 0.087 million of 95 million tonnes was produced this way, according to the Corporate Europe Observatory which obtained figures from the International Energy Agency.

However, it can also be produced using fossil fuels like methane gas.

Global hydrogen use is increasing, but demand remains so far concentrated in traditional uses in refining and the chemical industry and mostly met by hydrogen produced from unabated fossil fuels, according to a report published by the International Energy Agency last year.

In addition to the green process of extracting hydrogen, there are other process labelled as black, brown and grey.

Grey hydrogen is the most common form and is generated from natural gas, or methane, through a process called “steam reforming”, according to the World Economic Forum.

This process generates just a smaller amount of emissions than black or brown hydrogen, which uses black (bituminous) or brown (lignite) coal in the hydrogen-making process.

Black or brown hydrogen is the most environmentally damaging as both the CO2 and carbon monoxide generated during the process are not recaptured.

Announcing that the 12th World Hydrogen Technologies Convention will be held in Dublin in 2025: Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, Dr James Carton, chair of Hydrogen Ireland and assistant professor at DCU, and Paul McCormack, board member of Hydrogen Ireland.

There is also the contentious blue method. Hydrogen is labelled blue whenever the carbon generated from steam reforming is captured and stored underground through industrial carbon capture and storage (CSS).

Blue hydrogen is, therefore, sometimes referred to as carbon neutral as the emissions are not dispersed in the atmosphere.

However, some argue that “low carbon” would be a more accurate description, as 10-20% of the generated carbon cannot be captured.

Mr McCormack compared green hydrogen to the “energy equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife” in a report, which he published with Prof. John Barry, titled ‘Green Hydrogen Futures’.

“By developing a robust hydrogen infrastructure and leveraging domestic resources for hydrogen production, countries and sub-national regions can enhance their energy security and reduce vulnerability to price fluctuations or supply disruptions,” the report said.

“The full realisation of the multiple, economic, social, employment, energy security and other benefits of any green hydrogen energy transition requires a state-led and coordinated, planned and science-based strategy,” it added.

Meanwhile, the strategy around green hydrogen remains opaque in the Republic and has been hit with major delays.

For example, progress of a green energy facility off the coast of Cork continues to be stubbornly slow.

In July 2021, Cork firm EI-H2 and Texan-headquartered company Zenith Energy announced plans for a green energy facility on Whiddy Island, Bantry Bay, but nothing has come to fruition as 2030 target deadlines move closer.