Plans have been announced for a new hydrogen production plant that will be powered by an onsite windfarm in north-east Mayo.
The €200m facility, to be known as Firlough, is to be constructed by Mayo and UK based Mercury Renewables.
Up to 150 jobs are to be created during the building of the plant, while up to 20 people will be permanently employed there once open.
It is hoped that the plant will produce enough green hydrogen to power the ongoing requirements of 1,000 fuel cell heavy goods vehicles.
This would offset around 65,000 tonnes of CO2 every year contributing to 2% of the Ireland's emissions targets alone.
"We see huge possibilities for this project to attract industry and inward investment to the nearby towns and businesses," said Mercury Renewables CEO John Duffy.
"Our focus is on decarbonising the transportation sector, however, Green Hydrogen can also be used to provide baseload renewable energy when the wind isn’t blowing."
The company already has planning permission for 21 wind turbines at the Firlough site near Bonniconlon.
However, it has now decided to cut that to 13 turbines which would be used to power the electrolyzer.
The company hopes that the project will be finished by early 2025.
"We see the hydrogen electrolyser as providing the people of Co. Mayo with the prospect of obtaining skills in an industry that is expected to see significant growth across the globe," said Mr Duffy.
"We have an opportunity to build a regional centre of excellence around the technical skills required to install and operate a Green Hydrogen electrolyser directly connected to a wind farm."
The plant will use electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen with no emissions or harmful bye products.
Mercury has been working with DCU and the Cork based MaREI centre on a 12 month feasibility study investigating the use of Green Hydrogen in the transportation sector.
An online public consultation forum is being launched today seeking feedback from the public and other interested parties on the plans.
