Summit in Cork to address energy solutions for the future |
As Europe accelerates its transition to net zero, a truth is becoming unavoidable: our energy, industrial and digital systems are now deeply interconnected.
Powering factories, fuelling fleets, and securing data centres are no longer separate challenges, but part of one integrated resilience agenda. This is the context in which H2SUMMIT’26 arrives in Cork this month, and it is why Ireland has a unique opportunity to lead.
Hydrogen is no longer a distant promise. It is emerging as a strategic tool for energy security, industrial competitiveness, and data resilience, the three pillars of Europe’s future stability. The summit will bring together policymakers, investors, industry leaders, legal experts and innovators to examine how it can strengthen these pillars, and how Ireland can position itself at the centre of this transformation.
Europe’s energy system is under pressure. Volatile gas markets, geopolitical uncertainty, and the rapid electrification of transport and industry have exposed vulnerabilities that cannot be solved by electricity alone.
Hydrogen offers a complementary pathway - a way to store energy, balance grids, decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors, and provide firm, dispatchable power.
Ireland’s offshore wind potential gives it a natural advantage. But the real opportunity lies in how hydrogen can turn intermittent renewable power into strategic energy security, firm power for industry, back-up for data centres, and exportable energy for Europe.
Europe’s industrial base is under pressure from global competition, rising energy........