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Renewable energy production falls in Northern Ireland

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI agriculture and environment correspondent
Getty Images A country road streches into the distance straddled by grass fields bordered by a wire fence. The field straight ahead has a number of wind turbines which can be seen for some distance. There is a farm gate at the front of the image leading into another field. The sky is blue and largely cloudless. Getty Images
Experts have called for action to help meet legally binding climate change targets

The amount of renewable electricity generated in Northern Ireland has fallen again, prompting calls for action to help meet legally binding climate change targets.

By law, 80% of Northern Ireland's electricity must come from renewable sources by 2030.

Renewable generation in Northern Ireland reached a peak of 51% in 2022 but it has fallen each year since.

That can be due to weather fluctuations, but also to the process of "dispatch down", when wind turbines are switched off because the grid is unable to use the amount of renewable energy being produced.

New figures from the Department for the Economy show that 43.5% of electricity consumption came from renewable sources in the calendar year 2024.

That is down 2.3 percentage points on 2023.

Onshore wind farms provide more than 80% of the renewable electricity generated here.

'From leaders to laggards'

Steven Agnew from RenewableNI said while weather-related variations were to be expected, the figures "should be a warning alarm" for policy makers.

"Northern Ireland is going from leaders to laggards," he said.

"In levels never before seen, dispatch down averaged 30% in 2024, double what could have reasonably been expected."

Mr Agnew said that construction of the north-south interconnector was urgently needed to allow Northern Ireland to send electricity across the border, and he called for delivery of long duration energy storage and a new renewable energy support scheme.

He continued: "We now have a programme for government suggesting NI can be an energy exporter. The executive need to work together to benefit the Northern Ireland consumer and environment."