Wind energy monthly report – 21% of Ireland’s power provided in July

July 2022 sees two-fold increase in demand met by wind over same period last year

Wind Energy Ireland has released its July Wind Energy report, which shows that wind energy provided 21% of Ireland’s electricity in July 2022.

The latest figures mean that wind energy has supplied 34% of Ireland’s electricity demand to date this year, as a result of record figures in recent months. The report also shows that wind energy met twice as much of the electricity demand in July 2022 as it did in July 2021, a figure that was welcomed by Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland:

“While figures in July are lower than previous months, this is in line with seasonal expectations. What is heartening to see is that wind energy met twice as much of the electricity demand this July as in July 2021, which is a significant increase.

“Figures also show that even in months with lower output, wind energy still plays a crucial role in shielding customers from the worst of the fossil fuel-driven increases in wholesale electricity prices”, Noel added.

The figures referred to show that while wholesale electricity prices rose significantly in the past month due to high fossil fuel costs, despite lower levels of wind generation, there was still almost €40 in the difference between the cost per MWh on the windiest and least windy days - €256.66 and €295.58 respectively. The average price for MWh per month was €267.19.

The July report comes in the wake of the Government’s announcement last week that offshore wind generation targets have been increased from 5GW to 7GW for 2030, which was welcomed by Wind Energy Ireland.

Commenting on the increased ambition, Noel Cunniffe said: “Our members have a project pipeline that is significantly bigger than 7 GW. We have the investment, the skills and the expertise to respond to this call to action from the Government. However, in order to meet these targets, our planning system must be urgently reformed and properly resourced to ensure that the renewable energy projects needed to cut our carbon emissions and drive down electricity bills can get built as quickly as possible.”

The results of this report are based on EirGrid’s SCADA data compiled by MullanGrid and on market data provided by ElectroRoute. This is the seventh in what will be a continuing series of monthly reports from Wind Energy Ireland. This series will play an important role in progressing the development of wind energy as an energy source in Ireland.

ENDS

Note: A megawatt-hour (MWh) is a unit of electricity. A normal Irish household will use approximately 4.6 megawatt-hours of electricity in a single year. A 3 MW turbine producing electricity at maximum capacity for an hour will produce 3 megawatt-hours. A gigawatt-hour (GWh) is 1,000 MWh.