37 per cent of Ireland’s power provided by wind in November

The November Wind Energy report shows that wind energy provided 37 per cent of Ireland’s electricity in November 2023. The latest figures, published by Wind Energy Ireland, mean that November was the third highest month for wind energy generation this year.

The report comes after Ireland and Northern Ireland hit a new record for wind generation, with levels peaking at 4,626 megawatts (MW) on Wednesday, 06 December. It also confirms that wind energy has supplied a third of Ireland’s electricity in the first eleven months of this year.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “These results emphasise the contribution that wind energy is making to insulate Irish families and businesses from expensive fossil fuels.

“With one month remaining in 2023, wind farms across Ireland have provided a third of the country’s electricity this year. These are Irish generators producing power without burning imported fossil fuels, which means that we can cut our carbon emissions at the same time as we cut our fuel imports.”

Noel Cunniffe added: “But we can and we need to do more. This year, more onshore wind capacity has entered the planning system than in any year previous and industry is committed to delivering more wind energy.

“However, the current bottlenecks in the planning system must be addressed to help speed up the development of renewable Irish energy. The newly published Planning and Development Bill is an important piece of legislation that can help accelerate Ireland’s progress to a zero-carbon society.”

Price of electricity

The average wholesale price of electricity in November was €122.90 per megawatt-hour (MWh). The figures also show that there was approximately €50 in the difference between the wholesale cost of electricity on the windiest days and those days when we had to rely almost entirely on fossil fuels – €101.56 and €153.48 respectively.

Noel Cunniffe concluded: “The more wind we can get on the system, the less we have to rely on expensive imported gas to generate electricity and the more we can do to help households struggling with high energy costs.”

The total electricity demand in November 2023 was 3,510 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power and wind energy generated 1,303 GWh. This was a five per cent increase in electricity demand over November 2022’s figure of 3,337 GWh when wind produced 1,612 GWh.

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