£8m research funding for Belfast Met

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Belfast Met
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Funding is from the Interreg North-West Europe programme

Belfast Metropolitan College has been awarded more than £8m in research funding from an EU cross-border scheme.

The money will be used for research into hydrogen-based renewable energy technologies.

Known as the Gencomm project, it will involve a partnership with other educational institutions and companies in Ireland, France, Germany and Belgium.

Funding is from the Interreg North-West Europe programme.

It supports cross-border research partnerships among the EU's north western countries.

The Gencomm scheme aims to help remote communities in the region produce and store renewable hydrogen.

Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells where it reacts with oxygen which produces energy that is used to generate electricity.

Gencomm will develop three pilot facilities fuelled by solar power, wind power and bioenergy to measure their ability to produce and store hydrogen.

Belfast Met director of development, Damian Duffy, said the grant is the largest award of EU funding Belfast Met has secured and the first time a college in Northern Ireland has been awarded funds from Interreg North-West Europe.