Northern Ireland to close RO to new onshore wind in 2016

Northern Ireland's minister of enterprise, trade and investment Jonathan Bell this week launched a consultation proposing to close the country's Renewables Obligation scheme to new onshore wind from April 1, 2016, in keeping with the policy of the UK government.

Bell has previously expressed a position that RO support for onshore wind in Northern Ireland should be ended in 2017 as planned before, rather than following the decision of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to close the scheme one year early.

However, the minister now said that while renewable energy in Northern Ireland was a devolved matter, it was clear from discussions with DECC that the cost of maintaining a different policy would be borne entirely by the Northern Ireland consumers, rather than by all UK consumers. "I am keen to optimise the contribution which the renewables sector can make but I am also very well aware of the impact of costs on domestic and industrial energy users and the need to balance the two," Bell said.

He has negotiated a later eligibility date, October 30, for cluster wind projects to demonstrate that they meet grace period criteria. The eligibility date for non-cluster connection projects is September 30.

The early closure should see some 480 MW of onshore wind currently awaiting grid connection meet the grace period criteria. Together with the current installed capacity of about 800 MW, this would deliver about 30% of electricity consumption from renewable sources, according to the announcement.

The consultation will run for only two weeks.

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