Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to report to Deputy Ó Cuív that last year was a very successful year for renewable electricity in Ireland. According to figures published by the SEAI renewable sources accounted for an average of 46% of the electricity generation in Ireland last year, which was an increase of over 9% on the 2022 figure. Ireland now has more than 6 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity. Wind, particularly onshore wind, remains our largest source of renewable power. It accounted for 39% of all electricity generated in 2023. With approximately 4.8 GW of wind generation, Ireland is a world leader in the level of installed wind energy capacity per capita, as well as in the integration of variable renewable electricity onto the grid. Solar generation is rapidly growing, with more than 1 GW now installed. This is a major increase on the previous year. It is a near thirtyfold increase. Solar generation is highly complementary to wind generation and increased solar capacity will help Ireland to generate clean electricity all year round.

The SEAI provisionally estimates that electricity emissions in 2023 were 23.5% lower than in 2022. This figure will be finalised in the coming months by the EPA’s greenhouse gas inventory. The upcoming offshore renewable electricity future framework policy statement will contain several actions on the potential for ocean technologies. The SEAI is developing an offshore renewable electricity technology roadmap to 2050, due for publication in the coming months, which will inform future directions for State research and policy on harnessing wave and tidal energy in Ireland.

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