Nearly 50% of electricity used in March was generated from renewable sources.

New provisional data from EirGrid shows that 49% of electricity came from renewables during the month, with wind contributing around 40% of the mix.

Wind energy generation reached 1,258 gigawatt hours (GWh), with overall electricity demand coming in at at 3,142GWh in March, up from 3,027GWh in February.

After a weak February, when solar PV generated just 1% of Ireland’s electricity, solar output increased significantly in March. Growth in grid-scale solar farms led to a number of new records on the system, a trend expected to continue in the coming months.

On 21 March, a new peak for grid-scale solar generation was reached, contributing 983.46 megawatts (MW) to Ireland’s electricity mix. This followed previous records of 979MW on 19 March and 950MW on 6 March.

These figures relate to grid-scale solar only and do not include rooftop systems on homes and businesses, known as embedded solar.

Changing demand patterns

When embedded solar is taken into account, EirGrid has observed notable changes in electricity demand. On sunny days, daytime demand from large generators has fallen as homes, farms, and businesses generate their own power.

In some cases, demand is now lower in the early afternoon than at night, largely due to the growing contribution of embedded solar.

EirGrid’s system operational manager Charlie McGee said: “While solar power is currently a relatively small component of the overall fuel mix across a month, these record peaks demonstrate its ever-increasing importance as a source of renewable energy in Ireland as we work towards a more sustainable and renewable ready electricity grid.

“Looking in particular at the instantaneous power that grid-scale solar can provide, it can meet over 20% of demand at times.”