SONI – NI Grid Carrying World-Leading Levels of Renewables
Up to three quarters of the electricity flowing on the electricity grid at any point in time can now come from variable renewable sources following the completion of a ground-breaking project by grid operator SONI.
The power system is the first in the world to reach this level, overcoming major technical challenges associated with integrating electricity from wind farms, solar farms and interconnectors that link it with other countries.
A previous cap of 70% on the amount of variable renewable generation on the grid at a given time has now been raised to 75% following a successful 11-month trial by SONI. This is an important step and will support the delivery of the Northern Ireland Executive’s ambitious renewable energy target aimed at lowering NI’s carbon emissions.
The grid successfully ran at between 70% and 75% variable renewable energy for a total of 232 hours throughout the trial period. During the 11 months, several new renewable energy records have been set. This includes the current wind generation record, set on 5th of February, when Storm Corrie provided high winds leading to record wind power of 1059 megawatts (MW), enough to satisfy all demand at the time with excess exported to GB via the Moyle Interconnector.
