Energia is one of the leaders in renewable energy production on the island of Ireland, accounting for 25 per cent of the country’s total energy supply. It also accounts for 21 per cent of renewable electricity generation in Ireland.
The deregulation of the electricity market in the late 1990s enabled the company to enter the market in the Republic of Ireland. It was initially a supply business which purchased electricity on the wholesale market for resale to business customers. That was followed by the development of two gas-fired generating stations in Huntstown, near Finglas in Dublin, and the company entered the domestic market in 2014.
Looking to the future, he points out that the government’s Climate Action Plan is aimed at addressing three main areas of energy consumption – electricity, heat and transport. “Decarbonisation is a lot easier with electricity,” he notes. “Much of the decarbonisation of the other two will be achieved through electrification. We are seeing heat pumps which rely on electricity to operate being installed in new homes. In transport there is a big push towards electric vehicles.
“Electric vehicles are the solution for the domestic fleet,” says Donnellan. “But when it comes to large scale transport, hydrogen fuel cells are better. The contracts with Translink and project partners are signed, and we hope to have the project up and running towards the end of the year. This is at quite a small scale, but we feel we are at the first step in something very interesting.