'Northern Ireland’s climate ambitions must be a team sport' urges NIE Network chief

Doing the right things to make sure the people of Northern Ireland have the opportunity to help in the effort to get us to net zero is, without doubt, among the fastest-rising strategic priorities on the agenda of almost every boardroom here – be it private, public or third sector.

It has become the reason why we do what we do in NIE Networks as the owner of the electricity transmission and distribution network in Northern Ireland. As such, we recently announced our plans to invest over £3billion in the electricity network and create more than 1,000 jobs over the next 10 years (2023 to 2032).

This investment will ensure that the electricity network has enough capacity to allow all the businesses and families in Northern Ireland to choose electricity to heat their homes and premises and power their cars, rather than fossil fuels. The decarbonisation of home heating and personal transport will play a huge part in helping Northern Ireland, as a whole, to continue moving towards net zero.

We believe that investing in an electricity network fit to facilitate net zero will also create greater prosperity. We will provide training and long-term careers to people in towns and villages throughout Northern Ireland. We will create apprenticeship opportunities, compete for graduates and will encourage people that moved away from Northern Ireland to return and help us do our work for all of our citizens. We are determined that we will be creating skilled and globally competitive jobs.

We recognise that a reliable electricity network – with the right amount of capacity and supported by a pro investment connection policy – will attract companies and investment from all over the world to come here and provide jobs, stimulating our economy and our society.

We hope that we can bring a consistent can-do attitude and show our determination to make progress wherever possible. We cannot wait for things outside of our control to be resolved. We have a moral obligation to do our best right now for our children, our staff and the wider society in Northern Ireland.

But we are just one of many players in the energy transition – this is by no means a one-man race to net zero. Achieving Northern Ireland’s climate ambitions must be a team sport.

Opportunities such as the upcoming NI Energy Summit will allow us to have cross-sectoral conversations, so that we can collaborate and share commitments to get things done. NIE Networks is a proud partner of the inaugural NI Energy Summit on Wednesday, June 21.

Taking place at the ICC Belfast, the one-day conference will see global experts, government and energy industry leaders gather to build an informed consensus on how best to take Northern Ireland forward in meeting its renewable energy targets and net-zero ambitions.

Our support for the Summit not only reflects our recognition of the role we have to play in shaping and facilitating the energy transition, but also our strong commitment to working collaboratively in doing so.

We will share the stage on the day with fellow Summit partners; the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy (CASE), the Systems Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI), corporate law firm A&L Goodbody and Transmission Investment.

The sheer scale of the opportunity for Northern Ireland that comes with energy transition is vast and will no doubt be the core focus of the Summit but, if we are to realise this opportunity, we must embrace the race to net zero together.

For more information about the NI Energy Summit, or to register for your place, visit www.nienergysummit.com.

To read more about NIE Networks’ £3 billion investment, see here.