Under the original 2009 Renewable Energy Directive Ireland had set a target of producing 16% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020 but that has been updated by a second Renewable Energy Directive whose targets are 32% by 2030. Between 2005 and 2014 the percentage of energy from renewable energy sources grew from just 3.1% to 8.6% of total final consumption. By 2020 the overall renewable energy share was 13.5%, short of its Renewable Energy Drive target of 16%.[1] Renewable electricity accounted for 69% of all renewable energy used in 2020, up from two thirds (66.8%) in 2019.[1]
The country has a large and growing installed wind power capacity at 4,405 MW by the end of 2021 producing 31% of all its electricity needs in that year.[2] By February 2024, there was 1GW of solar PV capacity connected to the grid.[3] By April 2024, the grid had 1GW of storage capacity with almost 750MW of that capacity in the form of battery storage[4] the rest supplied by Turlough Hill.
- ^ a b "Renewables". Sustainable Energy Authority Of Ireland. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
- ^ "Wind energy in Europe: 2021 Statistics and the outlook for 2022-2026". WindEurope. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
- ^ "One Giga Watt of solar capacity now connected to electricity grid". RTE. 17 February 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Ottilie Von Henning (25 April 2024). "ESB reaches 1GW of energy storage on Irish network". CURRENT+-. Retrieved 18 May 2024.