DETI - Establishment of Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation Levels to 2020

Tender description

The NIRO is the main policy measure for supporting the development of renewable electricity in Northern Ireland. The NIRO was introduced on 1 April 2005 and has been the subject of amendment in 2006 and 2007: the current legislation governing the NIRO is the Renewables Obligation Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 which became effective from 1 April 2007 with amendments to facilitate access by smaller scale renewable generators to the benefits of the NIRO and a further amending order was made in October 2007 to facilitate the operation of the NIRO within the Single Electricity Market (SEM) arrangements for the island of Ireland. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment wishes to set an appropriate NIRO level to support an NI 2020 renewable electricity target, and to understand the costs involved. Consultants will be asked to consider a shortlist of around 3 potential scenarios for that target. The 3 scenarios are low, medium and high (exact figures will be given to the successful bidders), taking into account the grid study and EU drivers.