Plans to explore renewable energy hub in Cork Harbour, Ireland

Saturday, September 24 2022

General – Energy Hub

Irving Oil and Simply Blue Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a commitment to explore opportunities related to the potential development of an integrated renewable energy hub at the Irving Oil Whitegate Refinery.

This agreement will see the companies jointly exploring a series of opportunities that would contribute to the development of such a renewable energy hub at the Whitegate refinery – Ireland’s only refinery and a critical part of the country’s energy infrastructure – including the production of green hydrogen and its use in the production of electrofuels for local and international markets.

Electrofuels, known as e-Fuels, are zero-carbon fuel products produced with electricity from renewable sources.

Irving Oil and Simply Blue Group will also be assessing ways to integrate the significant planned offshore wind developments around Ireland into this renewable energy hub, including Simply Blue Group’s planned Emerald Floating Wind project, to be located approximately 50 km south of Cork, Ireland.

Together, Irving Oil and Simply Blue Group are committed to innovation and collaboration, seeking to develop sustainable and transformative projects that will provide energy security to customers and communities into the future.

With a focus on leadership through the energy transition, Irving Oil has committed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across its operations and to the development of more sustainable energy solutions. The company has set targets to achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as well as actively work towards a net-zero objective by 2050.

This partnership with Simply Blue Group could yield important new opportunities to reduce emissions in the ongoing operations of the Whitegate refinery and enable the production of a new generation of ultra-low carbon energy products – specifically e-Fuels – aligned with evolving customer demands and energy policy within the European Union.

Under the terms of the MOU, the companies look forward to entering this phase of work together.