Call for update on progress of green energy facility off Cork coast

IRELAND South MEP Seán Kelly is calling for an update on the progress of a green energy facility off the coast of Cork.

In July 2021, Cork firm EI-H2 and Texan-headquartered company Zenith Energy announced plans for a green energy facility on Whiddy Island, Bantry Bay.

Mr Kelly said: “They were going to develop green ammonia and hydrogen utilising the offshore wind from the Celtic Sea alongside Zenith Energy, all the facilities seemed to be perfect and this project was badly needed to reduce emissions.”

But nothing has come of the proposal yet, despite the ambitious climate targets set for 2030 getting closer, Mr Kelly said.

Describing a lack of progress as “not good for emissions or morale”, he said hundreds of jobs were promised across the development of the facility and once production had started, “good jobs, stable jobs, and they were badly needed”.

“When you have projects of this nature, we need to at least see where the progress is, there should at least be a statement explaining what stage they are at, and if there is issues with finance or planning."

Accepting that the delay in progress may be partially attributed to the initial announcement coming during the pandemic, the MEP said “but a lot of things that fell by the wayside then are coming on now. The pandemic is behind us and the urgency related to climate change gets more serious by the day, projects to alleviate it have to be operating all over the world”. 

He said that Cork has huge potential in the offshore wind sector, but “things are happening too slowly — we need to speed up.”

The Echo has reached out to Zenith Energy and EI-H2 for comment.