£44 million Wind Power investment Northern Ireland

At the tail end of last year the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator announced that more than £44 million has been set aside for renewable energy generation and infrastructure creation in the north and west of Northern Ireland. This will be a major boost to reaching the target of 40% of electricity demand being provided from renewable sources by 2020, although the plans have now to be submitted for consultation and approval.

Northern ireland map 300x2331 £44 million Wind Power investment Northern Ireland

Included in the package is £26m to increase capacity at the existing Tamnamore sub-station to allow reception and distribution of energy from wind generated sources. There will also be upgrades to the Kells-Coleraine circuit and £1.25m for pre-construction costs for a third circuit between Omagh and Tamnamore. A further £14.75m has been earmarked for the completion of the capital works. The package should allow the network to accommodate 1000 megawatts of energy.

At present 450 MW of wind generation is connected to the grid in Northern Ireland, while a further 550MW has received planning permission.

How will this investment affect consumers in the short-term? Network tariffs are expected to increase by around 1.5 percent for domestic consumers and around 5 percent for the largest industrial consumers.

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At the end of last Summer, Power NI agreed a fifteen year contract with wind energy company Simple Power to purchase electricity generated from its single wind turbines across the country. Simple Power will generate 50 megawatts of renewable electricity for distribution by Power NI, Northern Ireland’s biggest electricity retailer, which is enough to power the equivalent of around 50,000 homes.

The agreement will use all of Simple Power’s 200 medium scale single wind turbines which it is installing across Northern Ireland over the next four to five years.

Simple Power is planning to invest £100m into wind power over the next four years in Northern Ireland.

Note: The Utility Regulator is the independent, non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the electricity and gas industries and water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland.

The Utility Regulator 33871 £44 million Wind Power investment Northern Ireland