Renewable power in Northern Ireland ‘sliding backwards’ as generation falls for third year

Renewable electricity generation in Northern Ireland is moving in the wrong direction, according to industry leaders, after new figures showed a third consecutive annual decline.

Data for the 12 months to September 2025 shows that 44.2 per cent of Northern Ireland’s electricity came from renewable sources, down 0.3 percentage points on the previous year. The figure is now well below the peak of 51 per cent recorded in 2022, despite the region’s legally binding target to generate 80 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.

Mark Richardson, director of RenewableNI, said the sector was increasingly alarmed by the trend, warning that delays to policy and infrastructure reform were holding back investment.

“Quarterly figures will always fluctuate due to weather conditions,” Richardson said, “but the overall direction should be upwards as we move closer to the Climate Act obligation of 80 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. Instead, because we still have no effective market support scheme in place, very few new projects are progressing and generation is sliding backwards.”

Wind power continues to dominate Northern Ireland’s renewable mix, accounting for 82.2 per cent of renewable generation over the past year, slightly higher than the 81.9 per cent recorded in 2024. The remainder came from biogas (6.5 per cent), biomass (5 per cent), solar (4 per cent), landfill gas (1.4 per cent) and other renewable sources (0.9 per cent).

While the share of wind within the renewable mix has increased marginally, the overall volume of renewable electricity has fallen as new capacity has failed to come online at pace. Industry figures say this reflects a lack of market certainty rather than a shortage of potential projects.

Northern Ireland launched the Renewable Energy Price Guarantee (REPG) scheme earlier this year, intended to provide long-term revenue certainty for renewable generators and help lower energy bills by increasing local clean power supply. However, the scheme’s detailed terms and conditions have yet to be published, and enabling legislation has not yet been brought before the Northern Ireland Assembly.

With fewer than 500 days left in the current Assembly mandate, Richardson warned that the timetable was becoming increasingly tight. The first auction under the REPG is currently expected in early 2027, but the sector fears further slippage unless urgent action is taken.

“The renewable electricity sector is ready,” Richardson said. “There are enough projects already in planning or pre-planning to meet future demand and support the decarbonisation of heat and transport. But without market security and faster planning timelines, Northern Ireland risks stagnating while the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain power ahead.”

Industry leaders are urging ministers to accelerate the passage of REPG legislation, arguing that cross-party support for the 2030 target must now translate into delivery. Without rapid progress, they warn that Northern Ireland will struggle to reverse the decline and meet its clean energy commitments within the decade.