About SONI

SONI (System Operator for Northern Ireland) is Northern Ireland’s Transmission System Operator (TSO). We manage the electricity grid to ensure that power can flow from where it is generated to where it is needed.

We don’t generate or sell electricity, rather we balance consumer demand with the generation made available by the companies who produce it.

Our team of experienced, expert engineers manage the electricity grid, second-by-second, every day of the year, to ensure power can flow safely, securely and reliably to homes, farms and businesses across Northern Ireland.

We also plan for Northern Ireland's future energy needs by developing projects to upgrade and enhance the high-voltage electricity grid.

In delivering our role, we are licensed and regulated by the Utility Regulator and we work together to operate the All-Island Single Electricity Market with our counterparts in the Republic of Ireland.

Electricity systems across the world are changing.

The Northern Ireland Energy Strategy and Climate Change Act set an ambitious and challenging legal target that 80% of all electricity consumed must come from renewable sources by 2030.

In Northern Ireland, we have made significant progress so far – Northern Ireland was the first region the world to have 75% of electricity flowing through the grid at any moment in time coming from renewable sources. At present, approximately 50% of our electricity comes from renewable sources.

To reach the ambitious and challenging targets, SONI has the crucial task of transforming the electricity system and how we manage it in an unprecedented way. This means we need to plan for more and different types of grid infrastructure to support the flow of more renewable energy across Northern Ireland.

To reach the ambitious and challenging targets, SONI has the crucial task of transforming the electricity system and how we manage it in an unprecedented way. This means we need to plan for more and different types of grid infrastructure to support the flow of more renewable energy across Northern Ireland.

Like any piece of public infrastructure, the grid was built at a moment in time and for an electricity system largely based on fossil-fuel generation. To facilitate a different and more disparate type of generation, which can be weather dependent, the grid needs to be significantly strengthened and made more resilient.

In addition to our role in managing the grid in the present, SONI also has the responsibility of facilitating this major infrastructure upgrade.

The more renewable generation we require in the form of turbines and solar farms, the more, or different, grid infrastructure we need to transport it in the form of underground cables, overhead lines and pylons.

This will be the largest body of work that SONI has undertaken and will match rural electrification in terms of its long-term impact on consumers and society.

We know this transition will have a major impact on our local communities and landowners. We need to work together to explain why we’re undertaking this important task to ensure they are at the heart of this change and feel its benefits in the form of cleaner, cheaper, more secure electricity in the future.

As such, our three-part Grid Development Process, which goes far beyond the legal requirements of the planning system, puts local communities at the centre of our future proposals for the grid.

As we continue this crucial body of work in the coming years, SONI will continue to listen to the needs of local communities to understand what more we can do to ensure they have a central role in a cleaner, cheaper, more secure energy future.

You can find out more about our projects below.

Since 2009, SONI has been part of the EirGrid Group. SONI also operates the all-island wholesale electricity market with EirGrid through the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) which has been in operation since November 2007. SONI is regulated by The Utility Regulator (UR). SEMO is regulated cooperatively by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities Water and Energy (CRU) and UR through the Single Electricity Market Committee (SEM-C).

SONI is independent from NIE Networks. Since 2014, SONI has been responsible for planning for the future of the grid, while NIE Networks is responsible for maintenance, repairs and construction of the grid.

In 2022, the Utility Regulator published a decision which made changes to our license. These changes required further operational and managerial separation from EirGrid. In October 2023, SONI formally appointed appointed a new independent Board.

We are working with the our new Board and the Utility Regulator to develop a new organisational structure which satifies our new licence condition and provides a strong, independent Transmission System Operator for consumers in Northern Ireland.

From the experienced, expert engineers in our Control Room, to our grid infrastructure project managers, to our energy economists planning for the future, our people are at the heart of everything we do.

You can find out more about our leadership here.

To support Northern Ireland's ambitious renewable energy goals, we want to attract motivated, talented people to join our team. You can find out more about career opportunities with us below.