Isra-Mart srl : NI renewable electricity creeps up

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Isra-Mart SRL news:

Just above nine per cent of Northern Ireland electricity was generated from renewable sources last year, statistics published yesterday revealed, meaning that the province still has work to do if it is to meet its goal of 12 per cent by 2012.

The third Northern Ireland Environmental Statistics Report says that in 2009/10, 755,000MWh of electricity was produced from indigenous renewable sources, equivalent to 9.3 per cent of total electricity consumption.
While this represents a huge improvement on 2000/01, when only 1.4 per cent of electricity was renewable, it still falls significantly short of its 2012 target and the far more ambitious goal of 40 per cent renewable electricity by 2020.

Last year, energy minister Arlene Foster said around £1bn would have to be spent on overhauling Northern Ireland's infrastructure to achieve that level, but insisted the province was on track to meet its 2012 target.

However, Richard Murphy, a lawyer in the Belfast office of McGrigors law firm, said that planning delays had halted Northern Ireland's attempts to expand its onshore wind industry.

"We're clearly headed in the right direction. However, there is cause for concern," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "The number of applications for new facilities is stacking up and delays in the planning process are significant. We know that some planning applications are taking as long as three years to be approved, so we desperately need to look at how that situation can be alleviated."

"The government also has a target to get the use of green energy up to 40 per cent by 2020, and unless the situation is addressed, that looks unlikely to happen," Murphy added.

The statistics also showed that a third of municipal waste was recycled or composted in 2009/10 and that air and water quality was improving.