The Renewables Obligation Order (Northern Ireland) 2009
This Order imposes an obligation (“the renewables obligation”) on all electricity suppliers, licensed under the Electricity Order (Northern Ireland) 1992 (“the Electricity Order”) who supply electricity in Northern Ireland, to produce a certain number of renewables obligation certificates in respect of each megawatt hour of electricity that each supplies to customers in Northern Ireland during a specified period known as an obligation period (Article 5). It also “bands” the different technologies that are used to generate electricity from renewable sources, meaning that the number of certificates that will be issued in respect of that electricity depends on the way in which that electricity has been generated. The Order provides for the renewables obligation to be administered by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation(“the Authority”) who are responsible for issuing renewables obligation certificates (NIROCs) to renewable electricity generators on their renewable output. These certificates are sold to electricity suppliers with or without the associated renewable electricity.