Dr. James Carton:

Good afternoon. I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it on energy security, LNG and data centres. I am assistant professor in sustainable energy and hydrogen technology at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in Dublin City University and a Science Foundation Ireland MaREI Research Centre-funded investigator. I am a World Energy Council FEL alumnus, chair of Hydrogen Ireland Association, academic adviser to Hydrogen Mobility Ireland and hydrogen task force expert to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Fossil fuels dominate Ireland’s energy system and yet, today, as we emerge from Covid-19, impacted by geopolitical forces and seeing energy prices fluctuate, our reliance on fossil fuels is not diminishing, although it must. We know unequivocally the damage fossil fuels are doing to our planet, our environment and our island, supported by the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report on climate change. Our nation and society have seen the benefits of electrification since the Shannon scheme and the rural electrification scheme in the 1920s and 1940s. Electrification, interconnection, efficiency, heat pumps and battery-electric vehicles are key pillars to decarbonisation, low energy prices and social cohesion, but electricity only accounts for 20% of Ireland’s energy system and 60% of electricity is reliant on fossil fuels. The other 80%, which includes most heating and transport, is difficult to decarbonise and difficult, expensive and slow to fully electrify.

Pathways to decarbonisation require not just electrons but also molecules working together. Therefore, hydrogen is a key component to decarbonising. It sector-couples renewable energy with heat, transport and industry, key strategic points presented in the EU’s decarbonisation plans, as well as the UK’s recently released hydrogen strategy. At this moment, many EU countries and countries worldwide are beginning to embrace hydrogen, rolling out heavy transport, co-firing gas turbines, decarbonising industries, developing ships to move hydrogen by sea and developing platforms to produce hydrogen offshore, while also preparing the groundwork for global hydrogen hubs and long-term energy storage. Ireland must follow this lead. We must produce green hydrogen at a useful scale and deploy it in suitable mature applications, such as heavy transport, industry and even data centre power generation or back-up. We must test and build confidence by deploying hydrogen in satellite gas grids and co-firing, scaling it up in the 2020s to be in a position in the 2030s to build the infrastructure and the electricity grid for seasonal balancing.

DCU has modelled the required storage needed to balance out a 100% renewable energy system. The number is between 6 terawatt hours, TWh, and 10 TWh, well beyond battery technology but feasible for hydrogen.

Ireland is not a fossil fuel-rich country. In 2021, we do not want or need to be. We have vast natural, sustainable resources to support tremendous renewable energy deployment, specifically wind. We have an opportunity to build out renewables and ensure their ability to provide energy security for Ireland. Hydrogen can enable this. Ireland can even become a green hydrogen exporter in place of a fossil fuel-LNG importer.

In Ireland we need to accelerate hydrogen deployment. The impetus should not only be for indigenous energy. It is not about independence but energy security, creating jobs and enterprise and copper-fastening our climate objectives by ensuring a cost effective just transition.

This summer, Science Foundation Ireland and 25 industry partners have come together to fund a project called HyLIGHT, that I lead. HyLIGHT has an advisory group comprising 30 partners representing organisations, associations and government representatives from the North and South of the island. The aim is to effectively scrutinise the role for hydrogen in decarbonising Ireland's energy system. Excitingly, many of the industry partners want to develop hydrogen in Ireland sooner rather than later.

We stand on the precipice of a new economy. Thousands of jobs that do not exist today will emerge from the development of a hydrogen economy, particularly as many understand it to be necessary in order to fully decarbonise our energy system, working hand in hand and even supporting our clean, secure electricity supply. We are in a climate emergency. That fact was declared by Ireland in 2019. This emergency requires us to act and decarbonise 100% of our system. Green, Irish hydrogen can enable this.

I thank the committee for allowing me this time and opportunity to speak. I am happy to take questions.