The electricity sectors of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are integrated and supply 2.5 million customers from a combination of coal, peat, natural gas, wind and hydropower. In 2022, 34 TWh were generated.[1] In 2018 natural gas produced 51.8%, while wind turbines generated 28.1%, coal 7%, and peat 6.8% of Ireland's average electricity demand.[2] In 2020 wind turbines generated 36.3% of Ireland's electrical demand, one of the highest wind power proportions in the world.[3] While the United Kingdom was one of the first countries in the world to deploy commercial nuclear power plants, the island of Ireland has never had a nuclear power plant built on either side of the Irish border. Nuclear power in Ireland was discussed in the 1960s and 1970s but ultimately never phased in, with legislation now in place explicitly forbidding its introduction.
The grid runs as a synchronous electrical grid and in terms of interconnections has undersea DC-only connections to the UK National Grid, alongside plans in the advanced stage for a higher power, planned Celtic Interconnector to France. In the 2019 UK General Election 2019, the Democratic Unionist Party included in their manifesto a proposal to link Iceland to Northern Ireland (a variant on Icelink).[4]