Belfast City Council has opened it first landfill gas electricity generating plant.

Located on the former landfill site at the North Foreshore, now known as Giant’s Park, the facility will provide enough renewable electricity to supply around 6,000 households.

Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long described the opening as a "very important milestone for our renewables development".

The Giant’s Park installation is the largest non-wind renewable generating station to come into operation in Northern Ireland and only the second to produce electricity from landfill gas.

Energy Minister Arlene Foster said she looked forward to further sites being developed across the province.

"To facilitate such further development, I announced earlier this month that electricity generated from landfill gas will be provided with a higher level of financial assistance in Northern Ireland, despite significant reductions in the rest of the UK," she said.

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The landfill gas that will produce electricity at the Giant’s Park is a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane, produced from over 10 million tonnes of waste that has been deposited in the 340 acre site since the early 1970s.

It is converted to electricity through five generating plants, each with a capacity of 1megawatt (MW).

The generating station itself is part of a wider redevelopment of the North Foreshore landfill area, which is the largest such project in Europe.

It is intended that the development will ultimately incorporate sporting, amenity and educational facilities, alongside the Environmental Resource Recovery Park.

Over the past four years, the amount of electricity being produced from renewable energy sources has more than doubled here and now accounts for over 8% of all electricity consumed, according to Ms Foster.

"Most of this is from wind energy but it is important that we develop more predictable renewable sources, such as landfill gas," she said.

"This installation in the Giant’s Park will help provide the diversity that is so important for our security of supply and will also help us move towards our 2012 target of having 15% of our renewables generation from non-wind sources."

(PR/BMcC)