Northern Ireland’s NIE invests £3bn into network resilience

April 28, 2023 Editor

NIE Networks investment — Image courtesy NIE Networks.

In the hopes of accommodating a predicted influx of electric assets and renewable generation by 2030, Irish transmission and distribution operator Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks has announced investment plans of more than £3 billion ($3.7 billion) into their electricity networks.

The investment plan is based on their consolidated investments for Regulatory Period 7 (RP7), 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2031.

According to the NIE, the investment plan aims to ensure the network can facilitate 300,000 electric vehicles, 120,000 heat pumps and 3,900MW of renewable generation in Northern Ireland by 2030.

This, they state, will result in demand consumption increasing significantly between now and the end of RP7, 80% of which will be supplied through indigenous renewable generation.

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Challenges guiding the investment, states NIE, include addressing the challenges of environmentally sustainable operations, greater digitalisation and workforce resilience.

“We also need to re-shape our organisation to ensure we have sufficient capability to deliver the investments needed during RP7 and beyond,” the utility states in a business report outlining the investments.

To address and overcome these barriers, the investment aims to:

Facilitate decarbonisation, which will require additional capacity to be added to the network alongside a more flexible and digitally enabled operating approach.
Maintain a safe, reliable and resilient network in light of increasing asset electrification – and potential for outages – throughout their operating area.
Enable empowered consumers through digitalisation of the network.

In the RP7 business report, NIE’s managing director Derek Hynes commented on how the investment will “provide the electricity network for Net Zero…create greater prosperity in Northern Ireland and will provide training and long-term careers for many young people that may not have had opportunities to remain in Northern Ireland.

“We believe that we will need to create 1,000 new jobs in NIE Networks, and up to 500 new jobs in support partners between now and 2030.

“We believe that this level of investment in the electricity network will attract additional inward investment into Northern Ireland and will encourage new businesses to come here, and existing businesses to grow.”