With a focus on green hydrogen, the companies are planning to explore opportunities for developing complementary onshore subsurface projects in the country. To develop onshore energy storage in the UK ESB and dCarbonX expand their partnership.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between ESB and dCarbonX Ltd (an affiliate of Snam) allowing the companies to evaluate and progress onshore large-scale subsurface hydrogen energy storage opportunities in the United Kingdom.
It is the next step after the companies announced a joint venture in September 2022 to develop large scale energy storage project offshore in Ireland. As part of the agreement, both companies will be assessing potential sites across the United Kingdom.
This is to support energy clusters dedicated to hydrogen networks and energy products by ESB. Jim Dollard, Executive Director, Generation and Trading in ESB said, “ESB has operated in the UK for more than 25 years as a leading independent generator with current developments in onshore and offshore wind projects. This agreement with our valued partner, dCarbonX, cements our commitment to exploring and investing in renewable solutions that will help the UK achieve its climate targets.â€
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CEO of dCarbonX, Tony O’Reilly stated, “We are delighted to expand our relationship with ESB into the UK which will allow us to leverage key learnings from our Irish projects in areas such as technology, business modelling, and operations. We see significant large-scale energy storage opportunities in the UK given its mature energy industry and favorable geology together with recent hydrogen policy developments. In addition, the success of the Crown Estate/ScotWind offshore wind auctions together with the development of net-zero industrial clusters such as HyNet should further spur the production and storage of green hydrogen.â€
ESB already has significant onshore and offshore wind energy portfolios in developing and planning states. Its onshore wind farm capacity is 1.5 GW and its offshore capacity is 2 GW. The company is further exploring development opportunities for complementary onshore subsurface energy storage, particularly focusing on green hydrogen. With this aim and to develop onshore energy storage in the UK ESB and dCarbonX expand their partnership.
Source: ESB
