Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity in Ireland fell by almost 9% last year, the third consecutive year that electricity emissions have fallen.<\/p>\n
Emissions from electricity here are now 40% below 2018 levels despite a 26% increase in electricity consumption over the same period.<\/p>\n
The elimination of peat and coal-powered electricity stations, combined with increased renewable electricity from wind and solar, and a substantial increase in electricity imports, has driven the improvements.<\/p>\n
Electricity imports from the UK rose by 21% last year.<\/p>\n
The UK now produces 17% of all electricity consumed in Ireland, 23 times more than in 2022.<\/p>\n
The greenhouse gases associated with imported electricity do not count towards Ireland’s total.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the Climate Change Advisory Council said ongoing instability in global energy markets, including the impact of conflict in the Middle East, continues to expose Ireland to fossil fuel price volatility and supply risks.<\/p>\n
This, it said, reinforces the importance of delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to end reliance on fossil fuels by accelerating the transition to secure, domestically generated renewable electricity.<\/p>\n
However, today\u2019s report said Ireland\u2019s electricity system is failing to keep pace with the energy transition.<\/p>\n
It highlights that around 10% of available renewable electricity could not be used last year because of grid constraints and curtailment.<\/p>\n
In addition, just 0.8 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity were added in 2025, far below the two gigawatts now needed every year to meet the 2030 Climate Action Plan targets.<\/p>\n
The renewable electricity share of demand has stagnated in recent years because newly added renewable generation capacity is being matched by increasing data centre electricity demand.<\/p>\n
The Climate Change Advisory Council said the Critical Infrastructure Bill must designate electricity grid reinforcement projects for prioritised delivery – with clear timelines, accountability and transparency – and must not remove the climate obligations that apply to all public bodies under Irish law.<\/p>\n
Ireland has the highest household electricity prices in the European Union, with 319,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s report said this underlines the need for targeted energy supports for households most exposed to energy poverty, rather than relying on broad subsidies that do not address the underlying causes of high energy costs.<\/p>\n
It is also seeking additional measures to support household electricity resilience and grid stability.<\/p>\n
It wants the Government to introduce a grant for domestic battery storage and the installation of changeover switches as part of Budget 2027 later this year.<\/p>\n
Storm \u00c9owyn in January last year left 768,000 customers without power, with some homes off the grid for 18 days.<\/p>\n
It also triggered failures across water supply, telecommunications and health services.<\/p>\n
The council said Ireland’s electricity system must become better prepared for extreme weather events.<\/p>\n
It said electricity resilience must now be treated as a core element of national climate adaptation planning, with investment in backup power solutions and electricity infrastructure needed to ensure the electricity sector can better withstand future extreme weather events.<\/p>\n
To this end, it said the HSE, Uisce \u00c9ireann and telecommunications operators should urgently increase investment in large-scale low-emissions backup electricity solutions for water, telecommunications and health infrastructure, which are especially vulnerable to cascading risks from power outages.<\/p>\n
The Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council, Alex White, said: “We know renewable energy helps to reduce wholesale electricity prices, but Irish households and businesses will not feel the full benefit unless we build the grid, storage and capacity needed to use that power. Every year of delay leaves Ireland more exposed to imported fossil fuels, volatile global markets and avoidable costs.”<\/p>\n
“The Government has set the right ambition to end Ireland\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels. The test now is delivery. Critical grid projects must be prioritised, renewable planning must be accelerated, and the benefits of clean electricity must reach Irish households and business to ensure energy security and affordability for all.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity in Ireland fell by almost 9% last year, the third consecutive year that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[18,440,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-481802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116564739086280893","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}