NI Water, one of the largest electricity users in Northern Ireland, is set to lay out plans tomorrow around its vision to drive down carbon and look at the immediate environmental impact it could achieve on the climate emergency.
Designed to coincide with COP26, its 'Power of Water' report will set out not just what NI Water believes is achievable, but how, through public and private organisations working in partnership and collaborating, the north could become a world leader in the way it produces and uses energy in the low carbon era.
The report will describe how it has developed new ways of thinking about how it uses energy, and how it can harness natural assets to generate and store power, so adding extra resilience to the region’s energy system.
NI Water chief executive Sara Venning said: “Individual organisations cannot work in isolation. Just as climate change does not respect national or institutional boundaries, neither should the response. We all have to innovate, collaborate and show the urgency needed to address the defining issue of our time.
“With the support of DfI and a number of other partners, we have learnt much during the last few years about how we can respond to climate change.
“But our greatest potential, perhaps, is in using our assets as a catalyst for change across Northern Ireland’s energy and transport networks as a whole.”
And she added: “Change will only happen if we all work together. The 'Power of Water' report is a prompt, but only a prompt. What happens next is what really matters. Let the conversation begin.”
NI Water says it is leading the way with another major sustainable solution to wastewater treatment, which maximises the use of renewables as part of an integrated solution.
Its £5 million investment to upgrade Ballykelly wastewater treatment works will provide a new sustainable wastewater treatment approach, utilising reed beds as part of the treatment process, providing a natural, long-term sustainable and resilient solution.
The scheme also includes a 100kW solar energy system to help power the new works with solar energy.
Over an expected 25 year lifetime, NI Water expects the solar energy system at Ballykelly alone to save the business approximately £400,000.
Trees will also be planted on this site, supporting its ambitious target to plant one million trees over the next 10 years.
Ms Venning added: “We are committed to finding innovative sustainable solutions to water and wastewater treatment that also harness renewable energy to reduce our expenditure on power.”
