Organisations representing small-scale renewable wind energy developers have repeated their call for an extension of support under the Northern Ireland Renewable Obligation (NIRO) into 2018 for small-scale wind projects under 250kW.

Speaking at a meeting of the enterprise committee at Stormont on Tuesday, Chris Osborne from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said this extension was required to allow developers who have invested time and money in the process to get accredited under NIRO. Also commenting, Stuart Hall from Wind NI said that the cost of this to the NI consumer would be small. He said that 100 projects, under current support levels, would cost an additional £5 or put 0.9% on to bills to the average consumer.

Hall also maintained that the NI Renewables Industry Group (NIRIG), who represent large-scale projects, spoke to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) recently and reportedly said that some sort of new incentive for small-scale projects in Northern Ireland could potentially be introduced following an amendment to the Energy Bill in Westminster.

“Within the last 72 hours, the goal posts appear to have moved but it is uncertain where they have been moved to,” the committee was told.

Responding, committee chair Patsy McGlone said that small-scale representatives should also be involved in these talks. “There appears to be a lot of third-hand information being passed around. You heard it from them [NIRIG] and we heard it from you. There is a lack of tangible dialogue,” he said.

There has been no response as yet from Minister Bell to last autumn’s two-week consultation on the early closure of NIRO.

On enquiry by the Irish Farmers Journal, a DETI spokesperson said: “The minister is considering his response and hopes to publish the response shortly.”