From September 2025 to August 2026, low-carbon sources supplied about 44% of Ireland’s electricity consumption, ahead of fossil fuels at roughly 39%. Wind was the largest clean source, providing about a third of electricity, followed by solar at 4%, hydropower at 3%, and biofuels at around 3%. Gas supplied almost all fossil electricity, accounting for about 39% of consumption. Net imports covered the remaining 16%; the data does not identify their generation mix. Ireland therefore has a substantial clean electricity base, but still relies heavily on fossil fuels, with their associated climate and air-pollution impacts.

Is Electricity Growing in Ireland?

The latest 2026 figures show encouraging growth in low-carbon electricity, although total electricity consumption per person remains just below its historical peak. Consumption reached about 6,800 kWh per person, only 61 kWh—or less than 1%—below the record set in 2006. That comparison alone does not establish whether total consumption is currently growing. Low-carbon generation, however, reached a new record of about 3,000 kWh per person, exceeding the previous record of roughly 2,800 kWh in 2025 by 197 kWh, or about 7%. This clean electricity growth is welcome, and further expansion will help meet demand from electrification and AI.

Suggestions

Ireland should expand its established wind generation while accelerating solar development and considering nuclear power as an additional source of clean electricity. Denmark, where wind generates 59% of electricity, offers a particularly relevant northern European example for building on Ireland’s wind strengths. For solar, the Netherlands and Germany demonstrate what is possible in northern European climates, generating around 19% and 20% of their electricity from sunlight respectively, compared with Ireland’s 4%. France, with about two-thirds of its electricity generated by nuclear power, and Finland, at 37%, provide useful examples of nuclear’s substantial contribution to low-carbon electricity. Learning from these regions while expanding grids and electricity storage would support a larger, more diverse clean electricity supply.

History

Ireland’s low-carbon electricity history has been shaped primarily by wind expansion. In the second half of the 2000s, wind generation increased by 0.5 TWh in each of 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009, before hydropower fell by 0.5 TWh in 2010. Wind then made strong progress through the 2010s, including gains of 1.6 TWh in 2011 and 1.4 TWh in 2015. A 0.4 TWh setback in 2016 was followed by gains of 1.3, 1.2, and 0.8 TWh from 2017 through 2019. Wind’s largest listed increase came in 2020, at 2.1 TWh; a disappointing 1.8 TWh decline in 2021 was followed by a 1.4 TWh rebound in 2022. Biofuel generation fell by 0.5 TWh in 2023 and recovered by 0.4 TWh in 2024. In 2026, further gains of 0.5 TWh from wind and 0.4 TWh from solar marked welcome progress toward more clean electricity.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Sep 2025 – Aug 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.