Belfast City Council has become the first organisation to sign up for green electricity from the city's newest wind farm, after agreeing a supply contract with 3T Power.

The move will see landmark sites including City Hall, St George's Market, Belfast Castle, Belfast Zoo, 2 Royal Avenue and more than 200 other council buildings, such as leisure and community centres, powered solely by renewable energy for the first time.

Electricity generated at 3T Power's Ballyutoag wind farm in the Belfast Hills will be exported to the NI grid and used by council-owned venues, helping to cut emissions and reduce the council's climate impact. While some buildings already used renewables, this is the first time the entire council electricity supply will come from a Northern Ireland-based renewable source, supporting local job creation.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tracy Kelly, said: "We want to lead by example and do our part to make a real difference to cutting emissions and encouraging others to do the same."

"As the city's community planning authority, we have taken the lead in shaping and paving the way for a greener and more sustainable city, with transformational projects which will, in time, see real changes to how we live, work and future-proof our city."

"This contract underlines our own ambitions as an organisation to modernise and future-proof our buildings and, as the owner of one of the largest estates in the city, we want to encourage others to do the same – to put their shoulder to the wheel and work with us to help make the city's climate change targets a reality." Thomas Kelso, 3T Power Director, said the company was pleased to supply energy to the council's offices, leisure centres, community hubs and events and tourism venues. He said: "The development of a wind farm on the doorstep of Belfast has been years in the making and we are proud to see the site going live this autumn. This significantly increases 3T Power's capacity, and Belfast City Council's confirmation as the site's first customer reflects the leadership position the council has taken on embracing sustainability and lowering its carbon footprint."

"We look forward to additional businesses from Belfast and beyond joining in partnership through our Renewable Energy Adjustment tariff, which enables customers of all sizes and energy requirements to benefit from price transparency, a clearer idea of where your power comes from, and the ability to lower costs when green power is more plentiful on the grid."

Improving energy efficiency and moving away from fossil fuels for heating is a core action in the city's Local Area Energy Plan, launched in September 2024. Driven by the Belfast Net Zero Delivery Group, the plan sets goals for partners across the city to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to build shared resilience to climate challenges.

Over the last year, the council has also: delivered UPSURGE, an EU-funded demonstrator at Lower Botanic Gardens testing sustainable horticulture and soil management with Queen's University and community groups; secured £300,000 from Innovate UK to advance two Local Area Energy Plan projects—a city centre heat network and rooftop solar; progressed a neighbourhood-led home energy efficiency approach through the Belfast Retrofit Hub; and developed a net zero neighbourhood framework via the EU-funded UP2030 project.