Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 March 2018
242. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the details of the 2017 or most recent electricity consumption level for the island of Ireland and in Northern Ireland; the most recent annual figure for the different energy sources used in the island and in Northern Ireland that generated this power; and the projected electricity needed in 2030 to supply the Island. [14478/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraDetails in relation to All-Island electricity system demand and fuel mix are publicly available on the EirGrid website at http://www.eirgridgroup.com/. EirGrid’s “All-Island Generation Capacity Statement” (pages 14 and 15) provides details of the 2016 generation fuel mix for both Ireland and Northern Ireland. The document is available at http://www.eirgridgroup.com/site-files/library/EirGrid/4289_EirGrid_GenCapStatement_v9_web.pdf
In Ireland in 2016, final consumption of electricity reached 29,413 GWh while the corresponding figure for Northern Ireland was 8,892 GWh. The following table provides a breakdown of 2016 generation in Ireland by technologies on a percentage basis.
|
Generation Technology |
Proportions of electricity generated (%) (2016) |
|
Oil |
1.0% |
|
Peat |
7.7% |
|
Coal |
15.6% |
|
Natural Gas |
50.6% |
|
Wind (normalised) |
20.4% (22.3%) |
|
Hydro (normalised) |
2.3% (2.5%) |
|
Other Renewables & Wastes |
2.5% |
|
Total |
100% |
Additional information can be found in section 2.6 of the latest version of the SEAI publication "Energy in Ireland" which is available at
https://www.seai.ie/resources/publications/Energy-in-Ireland-1990-2016-Full-report.pdf
In regard to future electricity demand, EirGrid have modelled a number of scenarios in their 2017 publication “Tomorrow’s Energy Scenarios". Each scenario predicts a different possible future for the generation and consumption of electricity out to 2040. A link to the document is available at
http://www.eirgridgroup.com/site-files/library/EirGrid/EirGrid-Tomorrows-Energy-Scenarios-Report-2017.pdf
