Details of a new renewable electricity scheme for Northern Ireland have been published, which could see widespread development of new wind, battery and solar farms.

Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald last week published the final scheme design for the new Renewable Electricity Price Guarantee (REPG) scheme.

The scheme takes elements from similar programs in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain and will see developers of large renewable projects compete in an auction-based system for 15 years of government support.

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Eligible technologies

The scheme will be open to onshore wind farms, solar farms and battery storage systems. Projects combining these technologies will also be eligible. Anaerobic digestion projects will not be eligible. The minimum project size is 5MW, which rules out many farm-scale projects.

To be eligible, projects must have full planning permission and a grid connection in place. Interestingly, if the grid is constrained and cannot take the power being generated, the projects will still be paid under the scheme.

Structure

The REPG scheme will be funded through a “structured payment mechanism” applied via electricity suppliers. This mechanism will be bidirectional, meaning consumers will pay into the scheme during periods of low market prices to support generator payments and will receive payments or bill reductions during periods of high prices when generators repay the difference.

Competition

Currently, with no existing support scheme in Northern Ireland, potential investment in renewable electricity is being diverted to Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and other countries, the Northern Ireland Department of Economy has said.

In the Republic, thousands of acres of land are being developed for solar farms, supported by its equivalent support scheme. The REPG is expected to kickstart large-scale solar farm development in Northern Ireland, which could put additional pressure on land availability.