Video: SONI boss Jo Aston says North South interconnector is essential and predicts 100,000 electric vehicles on Derry roads by 2030

“We’ve looked at the SE and NW. In those projections you can see 100,000 electric vehicles in the NW by 2030 and 20,000 heat pump conversions,” she said.

Department for the Economy energy boss Richard Rodgers thinks the North needs to wean itself off carbon-fuelled transport.

“We love the car in this part of the world. There are 800,000 premises and there are 1.1 million cars,” he observed.

Ms. Aston said Derry had its shoulder to the wind power wheel.

“Derry and Strabane have been really big contributors to renewables both now and into the future but that’s not enough. We’re really going to have to put more into the system if we are going to reach 70 per cent [of all power by 2030].”

Video: Jo Aston of SONI and Brian McGrath of Derry Chamber outline the urgent need for a green energy revolutionNew works will be needed in Derry as production grows.

“We’ve identified a bootstrap going round from Kilroot to Coolkeeragh. These are all just possible projects at the moment.”

And the long-awaited North South Interconnector is a must for security of supply.

“To be honest it’s a no brainer. We absolutely need it when we are getting more renewables on the system. We’ve got to remove that major constraint and we’ve got to do it right away,” she insisted.