Ireland day 1098. Monday 30 September 2024- Fuel Cell

Today’s summary	Val and I drove down to Co Clare to visit a hydrogen fuel cell demonstration organised by ESB and GeoPura at the Shannon Airport Business Park. Val decided to miss the visit itself and had a look round the business park while I learned about proton membranes. A fascinating event followed by a tour round the business park. Val drove us back to Malahide (thanks!) and we had oatcakes and TV for dinner
Today’s weather	Heavy rain in the Dublin area first thing, much brighter with sun later on in the west. Light northerly wind. Appx 13c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Our visit to Ireland has certainly included some fairly interesting activities. Three years ago today, on our first full day in the Emerald Isle, we were at the horse races in Bellewstown. And today, we were at Shannon Airport looking at a hydrogen fuel cell. Life certainly isn’t boring.

I’d heard about today’s event through the Geoscience Ireland group I’m a member of, and decided to go because I have a passing interest in hydrogen as a low carbon energy vector. A relic, probably, from my days in the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Val decided she wanted to join me – which was great, as it meant I would have company for the long-ish (2½ hour) drive to Shannon Business Park, where the fuel cell was being demonstrated. I was, I have to admit, a bit curious to have a look at Shannon Airport too, as I’d never been there but I remember our grandparents used to fly from there across the Atlantic to visit relatives in America many decades ago. So there was a bit of folk-memory about it. (The airport itself is a few hundred meters to the west of the business park and is, by any account, thriving. There was a constant roar of aircraft coming and going, which certainly gave the impression it being busy).

The Business Park, where the fuel cell was on display, is huge. It’s built on parts of the old airfield which are no longer used and nowadays is home to over 300 businesses and 7000 people who work here. Remarkably, even De Beers is here, and they manufacture artificial diamonds on the site.

Val, being less of a hydrogen enthusiast than me, decided to have a look around the business park and to get something to eat while I learned about the fuel cell from its manufacturer GeoPura (a UK company) and ESB (its owner). The main use of fuel cells like this is to generate carbon-free electricity at remote sites like festivals, where the organisers are keen to burnish their green credentials and are prepared to pay a 2x-3x premium (compared to diesel generators) to access clean electricity. ESB, on the other hand, wanted to use the fuel cells to get hands-on experience in using hydrogen, as they see it as a potential long term energy store to balance intermittent renewable electricity generation.

We had a long talk on the economics and physics of the fuel cell from the manufacturer (GeoPura) and a quick look inside (sadly no photography allowed). At the “heart” of the unit is the proton membrane fuel cell, which is about the size of a domestic washing machine. The technology is evolving all the time and the newer models can generate twice the electrical output from the same footprint.

After the visit was finished, we were taken on a short trip round the Business Park then I joined Val for a cup of tea and something to eat before embarking on the journey home.

Val drove us back which was probably a good thing as I promptly fell asleep as soon as we reached the motorway. Most unlike me – I must have been tired.

The journey back to Malahide was uneventful so now we’re contemplating a light dinner of oatcakes and baba ganoush with a couple of potato croquettes on the side. Then I expect we will have to plough through another episode of “House of the Dragon”. Not because either of us are particularly enjoying it, but because we have started and we’re not the types to give up on things halfway through.

So another remarkable day unwinds as we start to contemplate what fascinations our fourth year west of St George’s Channel will bring.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


With some friends in the Barack Obama Plaza service station on the M7 in Co. Tipperary. (His great-great-great grandfather was born here in 1830)	The 250KW fuel cell unit fits in a container on a low-loader (the hydrogen tanker, which carries about 300kg of compressed gas in a series of cylinders, occupies about the same amount of space and when operating would be parked adjacent to the fuel cell. 300kg fuel would be enough to keep it going at full output for about 24 hours)

General view of the Business Park. It had a clean, modern, open feel to it and contained one of the biggest Starbucks I have ever seen	Another view. Particularly nice when the sun came out



The visit to the fuel cell was organised by ESB, who own two units like the white one in the picture, but much of the explanatory presentation was given by GeoPura, the UK company that made it. The whole event was hosted on a site provided by Shannon Airport Business Park. In fact I think that they had the idea that I was there on a mission as a prospective client – I had to politely decline when they asked me if I might be in the market for a 100,000 sq foot warehouse.