Wind turbines generated more than a third of Ireland's electricity last month

Wind energy provided 36 per cent of Ireland’s electricity in January, meaning that over a third of electricity last month was produced by wind power.

The latest figures, published by Wind Energy Ireland, show that the demand for electricity during January increased slightly when compared to the same month last year, while the amount of electricity generated by wind farms was one of the highest ever recorded for the month of January.

The total electricity demand last month was 3,831 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power and wind energy generated 1,379 GWh.

The report found that the average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland per megawatt-hour during January was €99.90, down from €162.16 the previous year.

Noel Cunniffe, chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “This is a strong start to the year and we expect to see Irish wind farms building on their success in 2023, which was a record-breaking year for wind power generation.

“New wind farms, along with solar and battery projects, will be connecting before the end of 2024 which will further reduce Ireland’s emissions, but we really need to accelerate the delivery of onshore and offshore renewable projects if we are to achieve a zero-carbon society for Ireland.”

The results of this report are based on EirGrid’s SCADA data compiled by MullanGrid and on market data provided by ElectroRoute.