The UK renewable energy industry is striving to meet the challenges of the 2008 Climate Change Act which has outlined ambitious renewable energy targets for the UK by setting legally binding targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050. The industry is also actively working towards achieving the challenging targets outlined within the COP21 Paris Agreement.
Building on these commitments, in June 2019, the UK Government became the first major economy to sign legislation to commit the UK to a legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Without significant additional onshore wind farm development these targets will not be met as other renewable technologies within Northern Ireland are several years from contributing significantly to the renewable energy targets (e.g. offshore wind), or are not at a large enough scale to contribute significantly (e.g. hydro renewable energy schemes).
Northern Ireland has already made significant headway in decarbonising the power sector in the past 20 years, exceeding more than the planned 40 % target by 2020 set by the 2010 SEF. The Department for Economy are currently preparing the updated Energy Strategy looking forward to 2050 which is anticipated to include ambitious targets of 70-80 % renewable electricity by 2030.
Additional onshore wind farm development and innovative storage technologies are the key requirements for these targets to be met. Wind power has been, and will continue to be, the main component of the energy mix. Increased efficiency and innovative technological advances mean, alongside solar, wind is the cheapest and most readily deployable technology. ABO Energy is poised and ready to invest to help deliver good projects to help achieve this ambition.
ABO Energy Northern Ireland was registered in early 2010 and the head office is now located in Lisburn. We have several projects across Northern Ireland and Scotland that are between early stage assessment and planning.
Northern Ireland has a very good wind resource however continued investment in the grid is required to ensure satisfactory integration of renewable energy to the grid.
