Ulster Unionist Economy Spokesperson Diana Armstrong MLA has warned that flawed energy rules could leave Northern Ireland in a bizarre situation, where renewable power delivered through interconnectors does not count towards our renewable energy targets as set out in the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

Ms. Armstrong said: “When the Climate Change Act was passed during the last Assembly mandate, it set an ambitious target: 80% of our electricity consumption must come from renewable sources by 2030. It’s a high bar, perhaps even unreachable, but as it is enshrined in legislation, it must be achieved. Therefore, it is only reasonable to explore every available avenue to meet this goal, including building and expanding our green energy capacity at great expense, and of course, importing widely available renewable energy from our UK counterparts via the interconnector.

“However, we now face a bizarre situation where, for example, wind power generated in Scotland and imported to Northern Ireland via the interconnector could be classified as a fossil fuel under the Department for the Economy’s own statistics. This is because it is not categorised as ‘indigenous’ renewable generation and therefore cannot be counted towards our 2030 energy targets.

“The rationale that only indigenous renewable generation should count is simply ludicrous and must be urgently reviewed by the Department. Northern Ireland is set to spend tens of millions of pounds in public money on expanding green energy in the coming years. While domestic renewable production is important, our geography, amongst others, limits certain types of renewable generation. We could be throwing money at projects that may not be necessary if we simply revised how we account for our energy consumption.

“Including imported electricity via interconnectors in our renewable energy statistics would provide a much more realistic and accurate picture of our progress in meeting climate change targets.”