Grid upgrades to accommodate more renewables in N.Ireland given the go-ahead

• 11 years ago (2012-12-18)
• Junior Isles

Europe 1061 Renewables 751

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The Northern Irish Utility Regulator has approved a £44 million plan to have Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) upgrade its electricity transmission system to enable more renewables such as wind farms to connect to the grid.

The work is expected to allow an increase in the amount of renewable generation in the north and west of Northern Ireland, enabling 1000 MW of renewable energy to be accommodated on the network.

The investment package will allocate £26 million of capital expenditure to increase the capacity of the Tamnamore substation in County Tyrone, with £16 million invested in the construction of a new circuit between Omagh and Tamnamore.

A further £2.6 million will be spent upgrading the Kells-Coleraine electricity circuit.

The upgrade comes just in time for investors, as 451 MW of wind generation is already connected to the Northern Irish grid, with planning permission for a further 550 MW already granted.

NIE will increase its network tariff, which makes up a fifth of an average electricity bill, to pay for the upgrade.

The tariff is expected to increase by around 1.5 per cent for domestic consumers and around 5 per cent for the largest industrial consumers.

"The overall investment is good news for Northern Ireland," said regulator, Shane Lynch.

"It will be a major boost to the NI Executive's target of 40 per cent of electricity demand being provided from renewable sources by 2020. We estimate that 1000 MW of wind on the system can provide 27 per cent of electricity demand in 2020.

"The case made by NIE appears to represent good value for money. We will now conduct a short public consultation before finally giving the go-ahead to the projects."