Policy News

Monday 07 September 2009

Northern Irish environment minister Edwin Poots claimed that wind energy would have the largest part to play in the country meeting its renewable energy generation goals

Wind energy is the foundation to meeting Northern Ireland's current renewable energy targets, according to the country's Environment minister, Edwin Poots.

Speaking at an Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) workshop in Belfast last week (September 2), the minister claimed that wind energy would play a pivotal role in Northern Ireland meeting the Draft Strategic Energy Framework (DSEF) target set in July of 40% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2020, compared to around 7% of its electricity from renewable sources today.

The minister said: "While other renewable energy technologies will play an increasingly important role, I believe it is the mature technology of wind energy that will provide the most significant contribution toward the achievement of this target."

Industry

Mr Poots' speech won a cautious welcome from the renewables sector, with Tony Gordon, of Northern Ireland-based micro-wind company Vertical Wind Energy acknowledging that it was a start, but claiming that more needed to be done, especially to help smaller companies.

Speaking to newenergyfocus.com today (September 7), Mr. Gordon outlined his concerns that Mr. Poots' words had to be followed by actions.

He said: "It's more of a positive message but there are lots of postive messages coming out of Stormont. It's great that Edwin Poots is aware of it, great that he's stood up and said this, but enacting it is a completely different matter."

In particular Mr Gordon highlighted the need for the Northern Ireland Assembly to take action to address the difficulties faced by smaller wind developers.

He said: "We're behind the curve in Northern Ireland. In the Republic, micro wind doesn't require planning, while the rest of the UK is introducing feed-in tariffs. They need to do a lot more to help us sell micro wind generators".

Planning

At the conference, Mr. Poots added that his department's new planning policy for renewable energy, PPS 18, was aimed at helping the overall renewable sector grow.

The policy, announced last month, states that planning applications for renewable energy generation will be permitted provided the proposal, and any associated buildings and infrastructure, will not adversely impact on a number of health and environmental factors (see this newenergyfocus story).

The minister said: "I believe firmly that PPS 18 strikes the right balance between protection of our valuable natural heritage and preservation of the amenity of rural dwellers, whilst at the same time ensuring that the necessary renewable infrastructure is put in place to allow us to meet our renewable energy targets."