European Delegates visit Donegal for Green Hydrogen Conference

Delegates from ten European countries visited Donegal Town for the Interreg Europe Green Hydra Conference.

The two-day event focused on ways to support the development of green hydrogen in Europe and how to ensure small and medium-sized enterprises are part of the Green Hydrogen value chain. Exploring ways that regional and local governments can better enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to thrive in the emerging hydrogen.

The Conference took place earlier this month in the Central Hotel and brought together leading voices from across Europe in energy, policy, academia, and enterprise, including EU partners as part of the Interreg Europe Green Hydra project. 

“Donegal is not only a place of natural beauty—it is a region ready to lead in the clean energy transition,” Cllr Michael Naughton, Cathaoirleach of the Donegal Municipal District, said. 

The thematic seminar featured two key sessions. The first was “Community Acceptance”, where presentations and a panel discussion explored public engagement and safety in hydrogen development, with insights from Nuala Carr of Atlantic Technological University, Maarten Meijer of Hanze University, Eunan Quinn of Donegal County Council and Sundeep Reddy of Lagan Energy Engineering, among others. 

The second theme of the conference was “Innovation in SMEs”. Speakers included David Surplus of B9 Energy, Kevin Sexton of Alpha Innovation, and Lisa Pearce from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Each presenter and panellist discussed how innovation ecosystems can empower SMEs to drive hydrogen solutions.

Eunan Quinn (Senior Planner, Donegal County Council) discussing the topic of Community Acceptance

Delegates visited Killybegs Port and Atlantic Technological University Killybegs, where they engaged with local experts on infrastructure, skills, and hydrogen readiness. Presenters included Karl Bonner of the Killybegs Marine Cluster, Dr Saad Memon of the OSCAR Centre at ATU, Emmet Lagan of Lagan Energy Engineering and Derek McBrearty of KER and the Killybegs Green Hydrogen Group each speaking to their work and contributions in the field of Green hydrogen as well as looking at the opportunities for the future followed by a guided tour of Killybegs Harbour.

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Project partners reconvened for a workshop focused on the barriers and enablers faced by project partners and what common issues could be overcome together. The workshop also looked at policy learning and development, as well as confirming the next steps for the Green Hydra initiative.

 “This Interreg Europe-funded Green Hydra project is providing an opportunity for stakeholders in Donegal to engage with partners who are on a similar journey of transition across Europe,” Anne Marie Conlon, Head of Economic Development with Donegal County Council, said following the event. 

“Over the two days in Donegal, our European partners had an opportunity to learn more about the clean energy transition in Ireland, while participants from Donegal and Ireland had an opportunity to connect with regions that are on a similar pathway, learning more about the policies and supports that could potentially accelerate the transition to clean green hydrogen”.