Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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68.To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the proportion of imported electricity that was renewable energy; the proportion of imported electricity that was from fossil fuels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31200/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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69.To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the breakdown, by fuel source, of imported electricity in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31201/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 69 together.

Currently the Single Electricity Market of which Ireland is part is only interconnected with the British electricity market. Neither my Department nor SEAI hold detailed data on the average monthly breakdown by fuel source of imported electricity from Britain. However, Britains National Grid Electricity System Operator does publish information on the breakdown by fuel source of British electricity generation, which are provided in tabular format below. The National Grid published information outlines the increasing role of imports from the continent to Britain in 2023 with 10.7% of their generation being imported in comparison to 9.5% in Ireland.

The addition of a number of new interconnectors between the continent, Britain and Ireland is enabling a greater sharing of solar, onshore and offshore wind as weather patterns move across north-west Europe. Electricity interconnection supports the pan-European decarbonisation of electricity by allowing surpluses of renewable electricity from one country to flow to another, reducing instances of ‘dispatch down’ (oversupply and curtailment).

This increasing interconnection is ultimately reducing emissions, prices and improving security of supply across all the interconnected countries. Increased interconnection not only supports our domestic decarbonisation targets; it also builds potential to assist our energy partners – as Ireland transitions to being a net energy exporter.

The increased level of imports and additions of new renewable generation projects resulted in the lowest carbon intensity annual record on both the British and Irish electricity systems in 2023, with 149gCO2/kWh in Britain and 255gCO2/kWh in Ireland.

Table 1: Annual average Generation Mix and carbon intensity in Great Britain