Wrightbus is partnering with Hygen Energy to deliver a ‘green hydrogen’ production facility at its Ballymena headquarters.
Subject to planning permission, the multi-million pound facility will initially produce enough energy to power 300 hydrogen buses a day, with the potential to triple in scale as demand for hydrogen increases.
The ‘green hydrogen’ will be produced as a renewable fuel that does not create carbon emissions. It will be made using renewable electricity to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. On the buses, this hydrogen will then be converted back to electricity to power the Wrightbus hydrogen fuel-cell buses.
Jo Bamford, Chairman of Wrightbus, said:Wrightbus is delighted to be working with Hygen on this hydrogen production project at our factory in Ballymena.
One of our key objectives when we purchased Wrightbus in 2019 was to bring the first UK manufactured hydrogen double decker bus to market. We have done this, with our Hydroliner buses now moving passengers every day in a number of cities across the UK, including here in Belfast.
Hydrogen is the best means of decarbonising many bus routes, but for this to happen bus operators need a reliable and voluminous supply of low cost low carbon hydrogen. It is great to see a project that is being sized to enable future demand for hydrogen here in Northern Ireland to be met.
Wrightbus and Hygen Energy intend to submit a planning application for this project to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council in April 2023.
It is hoped that a planning decision will be issued in winter 2023, which would allow the facility to be operational in summer 2024.
