Solar soars to become third-largest source of electricity

Solar energy has become the third-highest source of indigenously generated electricity to Ireland’s national grid.

According to Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien, the rapid growth of solar energy deployment reflects a dramatic transformation in Ireland’s renewable energy landscape.

Just over 10 years ago, Ireland had only two megawatts of installed solar capacity. Today, that figure has grown to more than 2.5 gigawatts (GW).

Minister O’Brien said: “We currently have over 8GW of renewable electricity generation capacity connected to the network.

"To put that into perspective, we have added approximately 5GW of new renewable electricity generation capacity in just 10 years. That includes a doubling of our wind energy capacity, along with establishing a strong solar energy supply.”

Wind generation and gas-fired generators remain the largest sources of electricity, followed by imports.