The SDLP Fermanagh and South Tyrone Westminster election candidate Fearghal McKinney has said renewable energy has the potential to provide jobs where they are most needed - but only if the NI Executive puts the right incentives in place.
Speaking after a visit to the Balcas wood pellet production plant in Enniskillen, he said: "In England, Scotland and Wales the Renewables Heat Incentive (RHI) will provide grants of up to £1,500 a year for 15 years to encourage people to switch to wood pellets or other renewables. Unfortunately the RHI will not extend to Northern Ireland.
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"We believe it should, as soon as possible. Wood pellets, for example, offer very substantial savings to consumers besides reducing dependence on imported oil and gas and cutting carbon emissions.
"But the main long-term advantage is economic. We have vast areas of marginal or under-used agricultural land with great potential for fast-growing timber for fuel, and we could be providing a substantial number of jobs in areas with no realistic prospect of other significant employment."
He continued: "This is not blue-sky thinking – the biggest wood pellet plant in these islands is already functioning here. What we now need is market development, which is what the RHI scheme is designed to do.
"The Executive should step in and either fund an extension to Northern Ireland or talk to London about how it could be done," he concluded.
(NS/BMcc)
