From July 2022 to June 2023, 45.5% of total electricity consumption in Northern Ireland was generated from renewable sources.
According to the Northern Irish Department of Economy’s (DfE) Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland report, this represents a 1.2 percentage point decrease year-on-year (YoY).
Unsurprisingly, wind took up the highest percentage in the energy mix for this period. The report outlines that 83.5% of the renewable electricity generated was from wind, which was again lower than the 84.2% generated YoY.
After wind energy, biogas, biomass, solar PV, landfill gas and “other” made up the rest of the mix.
Earlier this year, it was revealed by energy specialist Baringa that consumers based in Northern Ireland were able to avoid paying a collective total of £500 million thanks to wind farms having provided 42% of the nation’s electricity throughout 2022.
One of the primary reasons for the avoidance of paying extra on energy bills is the fact that the wind energy generation actually prevented large imports of gas. This could have been costly given the volatility witnessed within the wholesale market since late 2021.
Just south of the Northern Irish border, Ireland has been expanding its interconnector capacity with plans unveiled in 2022 that would see the Irish energy grid directly connected to continental Europe for the first time via a 575km interconnector running through the Celtic Sea.
The Celtic interconnector, which is set to be delivered by energy firm Siemens Energy, would enable the exchange of up to 700MW of electricity in both directions from Knockraha, located at the southeastern tip of Ireland, to La Martyre in Brittany, France.
