The companies have revealed they have signed a joint venture agreement to allow them to progress large-scale storage projects off the coast of Ireland and intend to actively explore and develop opportunities.

H2 View understands the joint venture will focus on three specific green hydrogen storage opportunities based around proposed decarbonisation clusters:

East of Dublin’s Poolbeg,
West of EBS’s Green Atlantic at Monkeypoint,
And South of Aghada in Cork (Project Kestrel).

In 2021, ESB and dCarbonX launched the Green Hydrogen @ Kinsale project, which was set to explore developing a site which could store up to three TWh of green hydrogen, as well as hydrogen carriers.

Read more: ESB, dCarbonX explore large-scale hydrogen storage in County Cork, Ireland

Jim Dollards, Executive Director for Generation and Trading at ESB, said, “Mirroring the developments across Europe, ESB recognises the importance of large-scale energy storage and the role that green hydrogen will play in enabling a Net Zero future.

“This joint venture agreement provides an expanded platform to deliver key strategic integrated assets that can that help Ireland to meet its climate objectives, whilst also supporting energy security. We are delighted to be partnering with dCarbonX and Snam on these projects.”

Tony O’Reilly, CEO of dCarbonX, added, “The signing of this joint venture agreement with ESB is another crucial step in the development of large-scale energy storage solutions for Ireland. Working with the backing of our shareholder Snam, dCarbonX has already begun the assessment of suitable offshore reservoirs that can support the storage of hydrogen and hydrogen carriers. We look forward to progressing these opportunities with ESB.”