Northern Ireland’s Department of Enteprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) has published its responses to a consultation over the Northern Ireland Renewable Obligation (NIRO).

DETI had initially recommended that domestic solar PV (0-10kW) should receive 5ROCs. However, in light of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s analysis over solar PV cost reduction, DETI is keeping support for the technology at 4ROCs – an amount significantly higher than the current 16p/kWh FiT rate available to the rest of the UK.

The department notes that rapid cost reduction of solar PV technology has meant that it needs to re-consult on ROC banding levels for solar PV above 5MW. DETI states that it will launch the consultation shortly.

DETI also included proposals to introduce a small-scale FiT similar to the scheme running in the rest of the UK. DETI notes that the proposed bill only provide a framework for small-scale FiT powers and that the legislation will not deal with the question of tariff levels for different renewable technologies.

DETI also announced that it will be implementing measures laid out in the Electricity Market Reform including adopting feed-in tariff Contracts for Difference (FiT CfD) for large-scale energy generation (>5MW) in 2017.  

The department’s full response to the NIRO consultation can be viewed here.