10% of Ireland's energy came from renewable sources but it is not nearly enough, according to SEAI

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10% of Ireland's energy came from renewable sources but it is not nearly enough, according to SEAI

By District Energy posted 03-05-2019 14:42

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RTE

Summary

More than 10% of Ireland's total energy came from renewable sources in 2017, according to a report by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

2017 was a record year for renewables on the Irish electricity grid, despite that, Ireland will not meet 2020 renewable energy targets.

Ireland is ranked 26 out of the 28 EU countries for progress towards 2020 renewables targets.

"We need to accelerate the pace of change," said Jim Gannon, CEO of SEAI. "Collectively and individually, we need to take greater advantage of the renewable resources available to us here in Ireland."

The report is clear that Ireland will not meet these renewables targets, despite a strong performance in renewable electricity. In 2017, 30% of electricity was generated from renewable sources, largely due to increased generation from wind, which accounted for 84% of all renewable electricity.

"We are performing well in renewable electricity," Mr Gannon said. "The latest data shows that Ireland has the third highest share of wind generated electricity out the 28 EU countries."

The report finds that while reducing the carbon intensity of electricity is critical to meeting Ireland’s climate change objectives it is simply not enough on its own. The country needs to make progress in all areas of energy use and rapidly increase the adoption of renewables across heating and transport, if we are serious about reducing Ireland’s carbon emissions.