Ireland is the fifth-most attractive country to invest in renewable energy projects on a GDP-normalised basis, according to the latest EY renewable energy country attractiveness index.

Ireland is seen as such an attractive location due to its ambitious energy transition plans, deemed proactive policies and significant opportunities that continue to attract investment in the rapidly expanding renewable sector.

During 2023, an additional 0.6GW of new grid-scale renewable energy was installed across Ireland, including 0.2GW of wind and 0.4GW of solar, which represents a tripling of the 0.2GW that was connected in 2022.

Ireland follows behind Denmark, Greece, Chile and Australia in the normalised ranking of economies, according to the index.

CPPA

Ireland has also continued to expand its corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) market, climbing one place to rank 16th in the CPPA index, reflecting a growing use of these agreements, as organisations continue to invest in renewable energy to meet both their energy needs and individual climate commitments.

In the overall index, the top spots are retained by the world’s largest economies - the United States, China and Germany, with the scale of the economies, the energy demands and the projects themselves attracting record investment.

Globally

Globally, there has been a record level of investment, with a surge of US$1.8tn in clean energy investment in 2023, including US$660bn earmarked for renewables, the index found.

However, in spite of this unprecedented investment, it is still significantly below what is needed to meet the COP28 target of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, the report stated.

Network gridlock and high capital costs are cited as consistent challenges globally at a time when rapid acceleration of investment and capacity is needed.

Positive

EY UK and Ireland energy and infrastructure consulting leader Sean Casey said: "It’s really positive that Ireland has placed so highly when it comes to our attractiveness in terms of seeking and securing renewable energy investment, but there is still much to do to ensure we are on track to meet 2030 goals.

"Over recent years, there has been a clear step change in the policy settings that enable investment in clean energy at scale.

"We are now increasingly seeing the return on this, with a year-on-year tripling of renewable energy added to the grid in 2023.

"Just recently, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that power generation emissions were down 21%. While some of this can be attributed to imported energy via interconnectors, it's clear that the energising of new renewable energy projects on an almost monthly basis is playing a crucial role.

"It's also been really positive to see an increase in CPPAs, where businesses commit to purchase electricity directly from renewable source."