Half of Ireland’s grid-scale electricity generated in 2025 was from renewable sources, with grid-scale solar farms accounting for 4% of the total, according to newly released statistics from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Grid-scale solar farms are increasing their share of the generation burden, providing 1,101 GWh of electricity generation in 2025 – a 51% increase compared with 2024. Grid-scale solar farms surpassed the 1 GW generation mark in April 2026, and at the time Irish grid operator EirGrid estimated this was sufficient to meet around 500,000 customers’ power needs.
By the end of 2026, Ireland’s connected solar capacity is expected to exceed 3.3 GW and as of recent reports by pv magazine it is almost at 3 GW. Most recently, the government said the figure was over 2.6 GW.
Grid-scale solar generation reached its highest all-time peak of 1.26 GW on 11 August 2026, just before 1 p.m. During that time, solar accounted for around a third of all electricity usage nationally.
Seasonal, daily variations
Summer months tend to have lower electricity supply compared to winter months. Wind generation is higher in winter but during the summer months when wind speeds are lower, solar can step in to generate electricity and supply the grid. According to the CSO’s data, May had the highest amount of solar electricity generation in 2025 with a daily average of 5.66 GWh. Wind’s share was lowest in May 2025, dropping to 22%.
As well as monthly and seasonal fluctuations there was also quite a lot of daily variation in the renewable share.
Ireland recorded its highest renewable generation share in 2025 on 23 Feb. at 86%, while the lowest was recorded a month earlier on 20 Jan. at just 11%.
This daily variability was largely due to differences in wind generation. Wind accounted for 40% of Ireland’s total electricity generation in 2025 and was the largest renewable energy source providing 11,782 GWh of electricity.
In 2025, wind generation increased by 3% compared with 2024, only a marginal increase compared to solar.
Ireland has a major problem with renewables curtailment, wasting enough wind energy to power 667,000 homes in the first half of 2026 alone.
More energy storage capacity must added to the national mix. Ireland has a 10 GW pipeline of storage projects and just under 1 GW of storage capacity connected. According to the CSO’s 2025 generation data, electricity storage output contributed a very small share of electricity grid supply in 2025, at 1%. During periods of high demand, such as from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., electricity storage, mostly battery discharge and pumped hydro, provided up to 13% of electricity supply. A flexible combination of wind, solar, and storage is required to keep decarbonizing Ireland’s electricity supply.
Non-renewables decline
In 2025, gas remained the largest energy source for electricity generation, accounting for 47% of the total. It generated 13,918 GWh of electricity, which was a 1% decrease compared with 2024’s 14,036 GWh.
More promisingly, electricity generation from coal fired power stations dropped by 52% in 2025 compared with 2024. Ireland shut down its last coal plant in June 2025.
Across all sources, electricity generation was 29,335 GWh in 2025, a small increase over 2024’s total of 29,267 GWh. Ireland continued to import a lot of its electricity and net imports increased by more than 1 GWh compared to 2024, reaching 6,130 GWh in 2025. This made up 17% of grid supply.
Orla McCarthy, Senior Statistician in the Climate and Energy Division, CSO, pointed out that the data does not include all supply from what she termed “auto producers who generate electricity primarily for their own use, for example generation from rooftop solar panels.” This means grid-scale solar coupled with domestic solar output is not actually quantified in the data and solar’s share in Ireland’s system is larger than the grid-scale data represented in the CSO’s release.
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