Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 July 2019
401. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of electricity being generated through non-fossil fuels excluding hydro but including wind, biomass, solar and or others including wave energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29064/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) have estimated that, in 2018, approximately 9,289 GWh of electricity was generated in total from non-fossil fuels (excluding hydro) and this represented on a normalised basis 30.8% of gross final consumption of electricity. In the All of Government Climate Action Plan which I have recently launched, Ireland will be stepping up ambition in the renewable electricity sector with a target of 70% of our electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2030. This will require significant changes to the operation and management of the electricity grid, to integrate wind and solar energy at scale. Indicative targets set out in the Climate Plan for non-fossil fuel technologies are at least 3.5 GW of offshore renewable energy, up to 1.5 GW of grid scale solar energy and up to 8.2 GW of onshore wind energy by 2030.
