Third best July on record for Irish wind farms

Wind generation in Ireland was the third best on record for a July month according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), which today published its monthly wind energy report.

The latest figures show that wind power generation in July 2024 totalled 656 gigawatt-hours, with Cork wind farms knocking Kerry’s off the top spot for the second time since WEI started publishing data at a county level earlier this year.

Cork produced 80 GWh and was closely followed by Kerry (66 GWh), Galway (55 GWh), Mayo (54 GWh) and Tipperary (46 GWh). Together, the top three counties provided almost a third of Ireland's wind power last month.

Price of electricity

The average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland per megawatt-hour during July 2024 was €110.94, up slightly from €107.74 the previous month.

Prices on days with the most wind power saw the average cost of a megawatt-hour of electricity decrease by 36 per cent to €70.30 per megawatt hour and rise to €129.95 on days when we relied almost entirely on fossil fuels.

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.

“At the start of this month the CRU announced they expect Irish wind and solar farms to pay back nearly €17 million to consumers over 2024 and 2025, further evidence of the contribution renewable energy is making to families and businesses.”

Renewable energy mix

The warm weather in recent weeks meant that, at 22 per cent, the share of demand met by wind energy last month was down by 11 per cent in comparison to the record-breaking results in July 2023. Solar power and other renewables accounted for 7 per cent of Ireland’s electricity.

Justin Moran added: “One other piece of good news from this month is that, as part of Ireland’s renewable energy mix, we are seeing solar energy making a significant contribution over the summer and this is going to rise quickly as more solar farms are connected.”

The report confirms that wind farms provided 32 per cent of Ireland’s electricity in the first seven months of 2024.

Justin Moran concluded: “To secure our supply of clean energy, we need to build onshore wind farms, offshore, new solar farms, battery projects and reinforce the electricity grid in just a few short years.

“Recent investments in An Bord Pleanala have sped up the decision-making process on planning applications for renewable energy projects and we hope that this will continue.

“The quicker that projects can clear the planning system, the sooner they can be built and start delivering clean electricity to power our homes, businesses and local communities.”

The results of this report are based on EirGrid’s SCADA data compiled by MullanGrid, market data provided by ElectroRoute and SEMO daily metered generated data compiled by Green Collective.