Renewable Energy in Ireland 2020

Report released by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) presenting the latest national data and trends on renewable energy in Ireland and the progress towards the 2020 targets for renewable energy. It also looks at how Ireland compares to other EU countries in our progress towards each of the targets.

In 2018, SEAI estimate that 16.7 GWh of electricity was generated from solar PV, representing 0.1% of renewable electricity or 0.04% of electricity GFC. In spite of its small contribution in 2018, solar PV is already growing rapidly. As of mid-2018 there were 245 MW of installed capacity contracted for connection to the transmission grid and by the end of 2019 this had increased to 706 MW.39 There is also likely to be continuing growth in the residential sector due to the renewables requirement in the building regulations for new dwellings and also due to the introduction of a capital grant for domestic solar PV in existing dwellings.

As for solar thermal energy, SEAI estimates that 14 ktoe of thermal energy from solar thermal panels was produced in Ireland in 2018, all in the residential sector. This made up 4% of all renewable heat energy.