The amount of electricity generated by wind energy hit a record high in August, according to a new report published today (Thursday, September 7).
Wind Energy Ireland said that the amount of electricity generated by wind last month was up by 71%, when compared with August 2022.
The strong winds throughout last month led to a second consecutive month of records in wind power generation in Ireland, with both July and August surpassing previous monthly records.
The latest figures mean that Irish wind farms provided 32% of the island’s electricity over the first eight months of 2023.
The report also found that Irish wind farms met nearly two thirds of Ireland’s electricity demand on August 19.
“Our members provided 33% of Ireland’s electricity in August and the amount of wind generated was up by 71% when compared to the same month last year.
“That is Irish generators producing power without burning imported fossil fuels, which means we can cut our carbon emissions at the same time as we cut our fuel imports,” Noel Cunniffe, chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, said.
Wind energy
Meanwhile, the average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland per megawatt-hour during August was €106.46/MWh , down 72% from €387.63/MWh during the same month in 2022.
Prices on days with the most wind power saw the average cost of a megawatt-hour of electricity decrease by five% to €88.34/MWh when compared with July.
The prices rose to €123.07/MWh on days when Ireland relied almost entirely on fossil fuels.
“The continued annual fall in wholesale electricity prices is welcome news and we are gradually starting to see these price reductions being passed onto consumers in their energy bills.
“While prices have come down a lot since last year, they are still more than the average wholesale price of electricity before the fossil fuel energy crisis begun.
“If we can keep pushing wholesale prices down, we would hope that we will continue to see a positive impact on consumers’ bills,” Cunniffe said.
Wind Energy Ireland has called on the government to invest greater resources in the planning system as part of the Budget 2024.
“The quicker we can build wind farms, the sooner we can rely on Irish renewable energy to provide our electricity.
“We know that not a single onshore wind farm has received planning permission from An Bord Pleanála in the last 12 months. This is a blueprint for failure,” Cunniffe said.
“Without this vital investment, we will fail to grow the amount of indigenous energy we produce, fail to continue decreasing wholesale electricity prices, and put at risk our ability to reach our legally binding climate targets,” he added.