GenComm welcome NI’s first hydrogen powered buses

GenComm Programme Manager Paul McCormack today welcomed the first hydrogen-powered buses entering service in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at a launch event at Stormont attended by the Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon, Mr. Mc Cormack, the Programme Manager on the Belfast Met led European renewables project said: “Today is a momentous day for those of us who have been on this hydrogen journey for some time now.

The fact the three double-decker buses are set to enter service locally is excellent news. Our GenComm project aims to address the energy sustainability challenges of northwest Europe by validating hydrogen technologies”.

Translink help with hydrogen-powered buses 

Translink working with our GenComm partner Energia ably supported by funding from the Department for Infrastructure have helped bring about this day at Stormont.

“I spoke at the Stormont All Party Group on Climate Action last week and there is a growing number of us on the same ‘green energy’ page. Today’s event confirms that in the fight against emissions.”

Energia Group Chief Executive, Ian Thom, said: “Energia Group is proud to be partnering with Translink on this innovative and pioneering project, which will directly reduce emissions in Belfast.

We are working to power the double-decker buses with renewable hydrogen and we will also be installing the first hydrogen fuelling station on the island of Ireland early next year.”

The fuel cell buses were purchased by Translink under a framework contract from Wrightbus. They will run on fully sustainable hydrogen which will be produced by electrolysis at one of Energia’s wind farms in Co Antrim.

Energia are one of 10 partners on the £9.39 million GenComm project which has Belfast Metropolitan College as its lead partner.

Louise Warde Hunter, Principal of Belfast Met who lead the GenComm project stated: “Northern Ireland, as with most of the world, is on a green energy path as we strive to reduce our C02 emissions.

I am delighted that Belfast Met is at the centre of this transition, today launching hydrogen-powered public transport in partnership with DFI Minister Nichola Mallon, Translink, Energia, and others.

This is testimony of the Further Education sector’s vision for innovation, driving industry to new heights. We are proud that GenComm has been a catalyst for the growth of renewable hydrogen in Northern Ireland.”

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here.
FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 50,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles.

Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully, we can share your story too and reach our global audience. We are agile, responsive, quick and talented, we look forward to working with you!

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking