Northern Ireland is making significant progress on its target of 40% electricity from renewables by 2020, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA).

19.5% of the entire electricity requirement for Northern Ireland came from renewable sources in 2014, 18.3% of which was from wind energy.

In addition, January 2015 saw the highest levels of wind energy ever recorded in Northern Ireland, culminating in 556MW of electricity generated on 7 January 2015 (14.45pm).

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Patrick McClughan, Chair of Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group (NIRIG), which represents the collective voices of Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) and RenewableUK in Northern Ireland, said of the renewable achievements to date: "It is clear that significant progress is being made by the industry in delivering renewables for Northern Ireland.

"2015 marks a critical tipping point, and a period of great change for our energy mix. The fact that renewable energy now contributes almost a fifth of the entire electricity requirement for Northern Ireland is a massive achievement.

"This represents a total of 1,595 GWh, most of which was generated from wind. What this means is that 628,054 tonnes of CO2 were saved in Northern Ireland in 2013-14 by clean, renewable energy: the equivalent of taking 130,000 cars off NI roads."

(CD/JP)