Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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105. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to detail the installed capacity of renewables, by county, distinguishing the renewable source in each case. [29497/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Action Plan 2024 seeks to transform Ireland into an international leader in the development and generation of high-quality renewable energy. The Plan includes a series of measures to support our renewables programme, including the accelerated delivery of onshore wind, solar, and offshore wind generation, to reach 80% of electricity demand being met by renewable sources by 2030 and beyond. The 2030 energy targets for renewable electricity include 9 GW of onshore wind, 8 GW of solar, and at least 5 GW of offshore wind.

Ireland has made considerable progress in decarbonising our electricity sector and currently has over 6 GW of renewable generation. This is split between over 4.8 GW of onshore wind, over 1 GW of solar (over 400 MW of rooftop domestic and circa 645 MW of grid-scale), and the remainder coming from hydro, biomass, and other small sources of renewable generation. It is expected that there will be further strong progress in 2024 and 2025 in the deployment of wind and solar generation.

An Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce has been established to accelerate the deployment of onshore renewable electricity generation by focusing on the three key pillars of renewables development – Route to Market, Grid Development and Planning.

To facilitate the accelerated roll-out and implementation of renewable electricity infrastructure for onshore wind and solar generation and to achieve the national targets set out in the CAP, regional renewable electricity targets will be included in the upcoming revision of the National Planning Framework.

The Regional Development Monitor (RDM) Hub provides a series of new national mapping and visualisation infrastructures including Wind Energy Capacity, Number of windfarms, and Renewable Energy Share (RES) by sector. This can be filtered per Region or County.

Additionally, various Renewable Data Reports are available on:

EirGrids website:

and ESB Networks website:

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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106. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has mapped the potential location of projected new renewable generation capacity by county or region, distinguishing the renewable source in each case. [29498/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is working closely with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the implementation of the recast Renewable Energy Directive. Obligations under the Directive include identifying available and potential areas for renewable energy development as well as the mapping of Renewable Acceleration Areas. These measures will support the delivery of the national renewable electricity targets set out in the Climate Action Plan 2024.

Implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive is currently being progressed under the banner of the Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce. The Taskforce was established to coordinate the fast-track and increased deployment and output of renewable electricity generation and supporting technologies, and all parties are working to ensure that the targets can be met in this regard.

It is expected that the upcoming revision of the National Planning Framework, which will include regional renewable electricity targets, and the Planning and Development Bill will provide a supportive spatial planning framework for renewable energy by ensuring an aligned and consistent planning approach, from national to regional assembly and local authority levels.

Collectively, these measures will facilitate the accelerated roll-out and implementation of renewable electricity infrastructure, significantly boost deployment rates of onshore wind and solar energy to underpin Ireland's sustainable economic growth.