Wind Energy Ireland said that wind generation here hit the highest on record for the month of August.
Its figures show that wind power generation in August totalled 1,068 gigawatt-hours (GWh), an increase of 3% when compared to the previous record set during the same month last year at 1,042 GWh.
Wind Energy Ireland said that strong winds in recent weeks also meant that, at 34%, Irish wind farms met just over one-third of Ireland’s electricity demand in August, surpassing the previous record of 33% the same time last year.
It noted that solar power and other renewables accounted for 6% of the country’s electricity in August, meaning that 40% of Ireland’s electricity came from renewable sources.
Today’s report shows that the average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland per megawatt-hour during August was €100.04, down slightly from €106.46 last year.
Wind Energy Ireland noted that prices on days with the most wind power saw the average cost of a megawatt-hour of electricity decrease by nearly 10% to €90.67 per megawatt hour and rise to €125.96 on days when the country relied almost entirely on fossil fuels.
The report also shows that Kerry wind farms produced more electricity than any other county last month at 129 GWh. It was closely followed by Cork (100 GWh), Galway (91 GWh), Mayo (84 GWh) and Donegal (70 GWh). The top three counties provided over a quarter Ireland’s wind power last month, Wind Energy Ireland added.
Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said it was fantastic to see the positive contribution that renewable energy made in August, with wind and solar energy providing 40% of Ireland’s electricity.
But he noted that while Ireland is making progress on emissions reduction, it is still falling short on renewable energy targets.
“Only two turbines in the entire country with a capacity of 7 MW have been granted planning permission in the last six months. To put this in context, we need to get planning permission for, and build, an additional 3,800 MW if we want to achieve our 9,000 MW onshore wind target by 2030,” Noel Cunniffe said.
“These projects need planning approval by the end of 2026 to have a chance of hitting this goal and we are running out of time. To meet our Climate Action Plan targets, we really need to accelerate the delivery of new wind farms and to do this we need the Government to continue to invest in our planning system to ensure applications are thoroughly, but quickly, examined,” he added.