Wind energy monthly report – almost half of Ireland’s power provided by wind in November

The November Wind Energy report shows that wind energy provided 48 per cent of Ireland’s electricity in November 2022, making it the number one source of electricity in Ireland last month.

The latest figures, published by Wind Energy Ireland, mean that wind energy has supplied 34 per cent of Ireland’s electricity demand this year to the end of November. This was the best November on record for the volume of electricity produced by Irish wind farms and the share of demand met by the country’s main source of renewable energy.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “The data emphasises once again the contribution wind energy is making to insulate Irish families and businesses from the worst effects of the fossil-fuel energy crisis.

“With one month remaining in 2022, wind farms across Ireland have provided over a third of the country’s electricity this year, making this one of the best years on record for wind energy. These are Irish generators producing power without burning imported fossil fuels, which means we can cut our carbon emissions at the same time as we cut our fuel imports.”

Price of electricity

November saw an average wholesale electricity price of €143.12 per megawatt-hour (MWh), with the average price at just €106.99 per MWh on the days with the most wind power on the system.

Noel Cunniffe continued: “Our families, communities and businesses will be vulnerable to extreme electricity prices so long as we continue to rely on imported fossil fuels for our power. We must accelerate the development of our own, indigenous, sources of renewable energy to meet our carbon emissions targets and to protect consumers.”

Total electricity demand in November 2022 was 3,337 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power and wind energy generated 1,612 GWh. Demand in November 2021 was 3,361 GWh and wind produced 1,106 GWh that month.

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 eleventh in what will be a continuing series of monthly reports from Wind Energy Ireland. This series will play an important role in informing the development of wind energy 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.