SINN spokesperson on Energy, the Environment and Climate Change, Councillor Sandra Duffy has welcomed the increase of renewable energy consumption in the North over the last year.
She was commenting on statistics released by the Department of Economy for the 12 month period up to December 2017 which showed that 34.8% of the total electricity consumption in the North was generated from renewable sources – almost a 10% increase.
Sandra Duffy said: “I welcome the increased use of renewable energy to satisfy our energy consumption.
“The figures released show that we are on track to reach the Strategic Energy Framework target of 40% of our energy consumption being produced from renewable sources by 2020.
“However, the figures released also show that we are still over reliant on the use of Wind to generate energy from renewable sources.
“We need a focused effort to diversify our renewable energy portfolio to allow for generation to be utilized from all renewable sources available.
“While these figures are positive, we cannot rest on them.
“We must now set ambitious targets for 2030 onwards to ensure that we move forward to a low carbon and eventually low carbon society as soon as possible,” she added.
