Irish grid operator EirGrid has released provisional figures showing that almost half of Ireland’s total electricity demand was met by renewable sources in December 2024.
Renewable generation accounted for 46.7% of Ireland’s total system demand, the majority of which (41.4%) came from wind power. Over the month, wind energy amounted to 1,287GWh and EirGrid puts December’s total system demand at 3,110GWh.
Solar provided only a small proportion of the electricity mix, accounting for 0.5% of the total electricity demand in December. Since October, when grid-scale solar generated 52GWh electricity and accounted for 1.8% of total demand, its share of the mix has decreased.
Diarmaid Gillespie, director of system operations at EirGrid, said wind energy’s contribution to electricity generation last month marked “one of the highest December figures for wind energy generation on record”.
December was also a strong month for the UK’s wind generation, breaking two records, and helping renewables to account for 50.5% of electricity generation in Great Britain. However, the electricity grid could not actually support the high volumes of wind generation and on 18 December, when wind’s latest record was made, Robin Hawkes, responsible for data visualisation at Octopus Energy, shared that ‘wasted’ wind had cost Britain “well over” £6 million by 8:30am.
In Ireland, the system non-synchronous penetration (SNSP) limit similarly restricts the grid’s ability to handle energy from renewable sources at any one time—currently, the SNSP limit is 75%. It is EirGrid’s responsibility to enable Ireland to reach its target of 80% of its electricity coming from renewables, as such also aiming to increase the SNSP limit.
Gas generation accounted for 38% of all electricity used in December, a significant amount less than renewables. It is also a marked decrease from November, when gas provided just over half of all electricity used in Ireland. A further 12% of Ireland’s electricity demand was met by interconnection.
The Moyle interconnector connects Ireland and Great Britain, allowing power exports and imports. Soon, the Irish electricity grid will be linked by the Celtic interconnector project to France—installation of high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable begun on the land side of the project in Ireland in 2024.
When completed, the energy infrastructure project will allow the movement of 700MW capacity in both directions, running from Knockraha in east Cork to the French network connection point in La Martyre, Finistère.
The Celtic Interconnector is being developed by EirGrid and its French counterpart RTE.
