{"id":492295,"date":"2026-06-10T10:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492295\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:42:13","slug":"renewables-firm-nze-to-invest-e2bn-in-hydrogen-venture-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492295\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewables firm NZE to invest \u20ac2bn in hydrogen venture \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy<\/a> industry veteran Tim Cowhig is leading a business that plans to invest around \u20ac2 billion in a green hydrogen project meant to boost renewables<\/a> use.<\/p>\n

Cowhig established SWS, subsequently bought by Bord G\u00e1is Energy<\/a>, and Element Power, which Norway\u2019s Statkraft acquired, as well as backing the venture that subsequently led to the GreenLink Interconnector.<\/p>\n

He is chairman of Net Zero Energy (NZE), which plans to invest \u20ac2 billion in a scheme to use excess or untapped renewable electricity to make green hydrogen that can be stored and deployed to generate power when it is needed.<\/p>\n

Renewable power availability and electricity demand do not always coincide as wind<\/a> and solar power<\/a> depend on the weather. At the same time, electricity grid constraints and market rules prevent some wind or solar plants from providing power when it is available.<\/p>\n

NZE intends using some of this unused power to produce hydrogen. This involves applying an electrical charge to water to split oxygen and hydrogen.<\/p>\n

The company will then store the hydrogen in specially dug lined granite caverns \u201cdeep underground\u201d for use later to generate electricity when demand is high and supply it to the national grid. Hydrogen turns to oxygen when it is burned, so produces little in the way of emissions.<\/p>\n

Similar systems are already working in Scandinavia and the UK. <\/p>\n

NZE has earmarked a site at Rathrush, close to Rathoe in Co Carlow, for the project, known as Rathrush Green Energy Park.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018A lot of renewable energy is being wasted\u2019: Electricity rules that favour Ireland-Britain power lines are criticisedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The company began consultations with locals this week and also met Carlow County Council representatives. NZE hopes to apply for planning permission before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

It calculates that the plan will cut 180,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, equivalent to taking 40,000 cars off the road.<\/p>\n

\"\"David McRedmond: \u2018O\u2019Connell Street needs high density housing\u2019 <\/p>\n

Cowhig predicted Rathrush could meet \u201cas much as 10 per cent\u201d of peak electricity needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cRathrush Green Energy Park provides significant, secure, sustainable, long-duration energy storage for the Irish grid,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The Republic spends \u20ac10 billion a year importing fossil fuels, he said.<\/p>\n

NZE chief executive Peter Harte said the Co Carlow development would in the future help insulate the State against shocks such as those that followed the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February and Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt simultaneously provides reassurance and confidence for high-end electricity users seeking to locate here in Ireland,\u201d Harte said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Energy industry veteran Tim Cowhig is leading a business that plans to invest around \u20ac2 billion in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[15456,16665,246,61,60,150432,3400,82,7617,9688],"class_list":["post-492295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bord-gais","tag-carlow","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-renewable-energy","tag-science","tag-solar-power","tag-ukraine-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}