New data from the government of Northern Ireland has revealed that over the past 12 months, close to half of the country’s electricity generation came from renewable sources.
Between July 2023 and June 2024, 3.319TWh of total electricity was generated from renewables, representing 45.8% of Northern Ireland’s total metered electricity consumption. This marks a 0.3% increase in renewable energy generation from the previous 12-month period (July 2022 to June 2023).
Of this renewable energy generation, the majority came from wind. Wind generation over the last 12 months reached 2.731TWh, while other renewable energy generation contributed 0.588TWh. However, wind’s dominance over the Northern Irish renewables sector has slipped slightly, with wind making up 83.2% of Northern Irish renewable generation between July 2022 and June 2023, and 82.3% between 2023 and 2024.
Looking further back, total electricity consumption in Northern Ireland has fallen by 11.2% over the last decade, while total renewable energy generation has increased by 115.6% over the same period. Most of this increase in renewable generation came from wind; non-wind renewable energy generation has remained broadly stable since June 2014.
The dominance of wind in Northern Ireland’s energy mix is unsurprising, as all-Ireland industry body Wind Energy Ireland recently revealed that July 2024 was the third-best month on record for wind generation on the Emerald Isle.
Across the whole of Ireland, on- and offshore wind generated 656GWh of power in July 2024, making up 22% of the island’s electricity demand.
Commenting on this in August, Justin Moran, director of external affairs at Wind Energy Ireland, said: “Having an affordable, accessible and reliable source of clean energy is vital for consumers to have confidence in our transition to a zero-carbon society.
“Electricity generated from Irish wind farms replaces imported fossil fuels and pushes the wholesale price of electricity downwards. The more wind we can get on the system, the less we have to rely on expensive imported gas and the more we can do to help Irish households struggling with high energy costs.”
Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) have set targets of having 80% of their electricity coming from renewable sources by the year 2030. However, recent analysis from energy market consultancy Cornwall Insight predicts that this target will be missed by several years. Cornwall Insight forecasts suggest that planning delays and grid connection shortages mean that the renewable energy generation target will be missed by 10% in 2030, with the majority of the rest of the island’s electricity coming from gas fired power plants.
