Last week (September 19), Minister CaoImhe Archibald of Noord -Ierse Economy published the Final Scheme Design (FSD) for a support mechanism of renewable energy sources.
The schedule for renewable energy price guarantee (repg), such as Contracts for Difference (CFD) operated in Great -Britain or the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (Ress) In the Republic of Ireland it is designed to support the development of renewable energy in the country.
This support must in turn encourage private investments. The Noord -Irish government has the goal of generating 80% of all electricity in the nation from renewable sources by 2030. By 2027, the Noord -Iierland director also promised to support the industry to increase the renewable electricity capacity by 40%.
According to the FSD, all renewable technologies will be included in the schedule and each auction will be tailored to the most urgent needs of the electricity network at that time.
This will see the first auction, which is held at the beginning of 2027, limited to well -established technologies. The eligible technologies are onshore wind and solar PV, either as independent projects or with each other or with storage of battery energy.
The minimum capacity of a project set at 5MW, and to be eligible for developers, developers must have a building permit, an accepted offer of the grid connection and proof of financial obligation.
Successful projects receive 15-year contracts, with the first auction round aimed at securing 750-1,250 GWh per year.
Financing Renewable Energy
The proposed REPG scheme is financed through a fixed tax that will be added to electricity accounts under a two-way payment system: when prices fall under the agreed contract level, generators of renewable energy receive a payment of the electricity companies; However, when prices rise, surplus payments from generators are returned to electricity companies to return to the consumer.
By making more renewable energy implementation possible, the scheme will ultimately reduce the bills by accessing cheaper, clean electricity that, by being generated in the interior, will not be subject to global price shocks.
The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) Will act as a repg opposite party, such as for CFD, and Settlement Agent and Two-Way Payment System Administrator.
The Northern Irish Department for the Economy, which published the FSD, said that it is planning to investigate the feasibility of the introduction of a mandatory reduction of electricity accounts for households in the vicinity of REPG-supported projects.
In the Republic of Ireland, Ress includes a compulsory community Benefit Fund that is set at € 2/MWh (£ 1.75/MWh) for all supported generation projects, which in the first auction round estimated € 4 million (£ 3.49 million) to sustainable community initiatives annually.
In Great -Britain, the CFD does not make a community benefit, but the Renewableuk trade association recommends that developers offer community benefits of £ 5,000/MW installed capacity per year, during the operational lifespan of the project. This is approximately the same as the Ress amount of € 2/MWh.
The FSD states that the department will investigate both the socialization of costs between electricity consumers and through direct contributions from developers.
Northern Irish Renewable Energy Brush scheme ‘much needed’
The commercial body that represents the renewable electricity industry in Northern Ireland, Renewableni, said that the RepG schedule “is the much needed key to unlock investments in renewable energy sources”.
As proof of that need, in 2016 under the previous NI support schedule – the Northern Ireland Renewables obligation (Niro) – 400 MW Onshore Wind was connected, compared to only five new wind power plants, a total of 110 MW, connected in the past five years.
Tamasin Fraser, head of Renewableni, said that the proposed schedule has taken “one of, if not the, most direct favorable actions that the executive has taken to take economic growth here, especially in rural areas,”.
