Image source: Philip Magowan, PressEye
Farmers will need to play a central role if targets to generate at least 70% of Northern Ireland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 is to be achieved, the Ulster Farmers’ Union has said.
The union’s Rural Enterprise Committee met with electricity transmission system operator SONI on May 6.
The meeting focused on ‘Shaping Our Electricity Future’, a major public consultation being carried out by SONI, which looks at how the transmission power grid can be developed to handle more renewable electricity.
The consultation contains four potential approaches to upgrading the transmission system to ensure the new renewable electricity target, which is due to be published by the Department for the Economy later this year, can be met.
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Ireland has exceptional untapped wind resources, particularly offshore, which equates to 10 times the 5,000 megawatts currently installed on the island of Ireland.
Ireland will have a sufficient amount of renewable wind energy projects to help reduce carbon emissions by 51 per cent over the next decade but the biggest issue is having a sufficiently strong power grid, the OireachtasClimate Committee has been told.
Acting chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) Noel Cunniffe said a complete redesign and reinforcement of the transmission system, with a focus on parts of the country where large volumes of renewable energy are located needed to be developed.
April 12, 2021 5:59 pm
Irish Rural Link is hosting a series of consultation workshops on EirGrid’s Shaping Our Electricity Future strategy.
Last month, EirGrid and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan launched a nationwide consultation on the future of Ireland’s electricity system.
They are asking anyone interested in Ireland’s energy future to consider the approaches outlined in Shaping Our Electricity Future and provide feedback.
“Climate change is one of the starkest challenges we face and Ireland is currently lagging far behind on our emissions targets,” the minister said.
In the coming decades we will be electrifying large parts of our economy, including our heating and transport systems, so building a grid that can handle a high level of renewables will be critical to our success.
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Northern Ireland has achieved a lot when it comes to utilising renewable electricity. Almost half of the electricity used in 2020 was from renewable resources.