NI avoids paying to import gas as wind farms provided 42% of electricity last year

Northern Ireland consumers avoided paying £500m to import gas last year because wind farms provided nearly 42% of the electricity.

The figures come from a new analysis published by energy specialists Baringa entitled Cutting Gas, Cutting Bills: Analysis of savings in gas imports delivered by wind farms in 2022.

The Baringa analysis also found that without wind energy in 2022, Ireland would have had to pay €2.57billion purchasing gas and to produce the power by burning the gas.

The savings were particularly significant on days with extremely high gas prices and large volumes of wind energy on the electricity system. On a single day – Tuesday, March 8 – the combination of island wide high winds and soaring gas prices delivered a total avoided cost of €43 million in just 24 hours.

In response, RenewableNI director, Steven Agnew, said: “During the current cost-of-living crisis this report shows how vital investment in renewable electricity projects is to the consumer as well as the environment. We are meeting the governments key targets of climate change and energy security while also providing a solution to the cost-of-living crisis.

“The gas industry itself has said they do not anticipate their prices coming down to pre-Covid levels, so we need to get off our reliance on fossil fuels and make the switch to renewables as swiftly as possible. Only then will we see reductions to electricity bills. This will also have a knock-on benefit to heat and transport costs as we electrify those industries.”

The report comes as Department for the Economy (DfE) and The Crown Estate (TCE) recently agreed a Statement of Intent to express their commitment towards establishing offshore wind leasing for NI.

The Statement of Intent outlines the ways in which DfE and TCE will work together to create the conditions for offshore wind leasing in the NI marine area, and follows a period of close collaboration between the two organisations.

Welcoming the news, Steven, continued: “The NI offshore wind sector is emerging as one of the most likely economic success stories of the decade. In addition to generating enough electricity to power 1.6million homes, it can generate £2.4bn GVA and create 1,500 new jobs.

“It is invigorating for the renewables industry to see DfE and TCE laying the groundwork for building offshore wind leasing and realising these benefits for the people of NI.”

Highlighting challenges being faced by the renewables industry, Steven, added: “Renewables have done more than any other industry to reduce the rising cost of electricity, but we are also being penalised because of it. The government’s new windfall tax begins this month until 2028, and last week an increase in rates of 80% for wind farms and 108% for solar farms was announced. Effectively the industry is being double taxed on the costs.

“We can’t overstate the importance of the onshore wind – we need to double the number of developments by 2030 to meet the Climate Bill target of 80% renewable electricity.

“We need to incentive investment in NI to ensure we don’t fall behind the rest of Ireland and GB. We have some of the best wind in the world, both on and offshore, which our members tell us is the only reason to continue to develop here. But combined with a planning system that isn’t fit for propose, creating extensive timelines for developers, it really looks as if the government is penalising their best choice for a cleaner future.

“We need more action, like the Statement of Intent, as a sign of government and industry working together. When we do, a cleaner, energy secure future is the reward for NI citizens.”