This release shows metered electricity generation classified by the main fuel used to generate the electricity. The time series for the release is from January 2020 onwards. The data are disaggregated by primary fuel source, year, month, day, and 30-minute time period. The time series shows how the proportion of metered electricity generated from renewable fuels varies during the day and by season. For example, wind and renewable hydro tend to contribute a higher proportion in winter months whereas solar farms generate more electricity when there is more daylight. At a daily half-hourly level, the proportion of renewable metered electricity can vary from under 10% to over 80%.
The CSO received the administrative microdata from EirGrid who are the Transmission System Operator (TSO) for electricity in Ireland. The data were requested under the Statistics Act, 1993.
EirGrid is the transmission system operator in Ireland. The largest generation plants are generally connected to the transmission system. EirGrid publish a live dashboard showing electricity generation in real time which can be viewed here.
ESB Networks is the Distribution System Operator (DSO). Smaller electricity generation plants are typically connected to the distribution system.
The Single Electricity Market (SEM) file contained the generators with higher quantities. Electricity generation in this file was in 30-minute periods.
EirGrid also provided a file from the Distribution System Operator (DSO). This file was in 15-minute periods and covered smaller generation plants.
The data are from January 2020 onwards.
Separate files were received on exports and imports of electricity.
The electricity unit in the SEM file was in megawatt-hours (MWh). The electricity unit in the DSO file was in kilowatts (kW). EirGrid advised dividing kW by 4,000 to get MWh.
The classification of the fuels used to generate electricity was in the electricity generators register. This fuel is the primary fuel used by the power plant to generate electricity. The fuel classification used in this release is:
Hydro, solar, wind, and other renewable can be readily classified as renewable fuels. Other categories such as Biomass/Peat may comprise a mixture of renewable and non-renewable fuels. The mix of primary and secondary fuels used by such generation plants can change over time. For example, peat powered electricity generation plants have been changing to wood biomass and other fuels.
These flows were through the North-South and East-West interconnections.
It may be possible to assign a county to each generation plant. This possibility will be examined during 2024.
The data are subject to revision on an ongoing basis. EirGrid monthly Outage reports show metered electricity generation by main fuel source by month. The timing of revisions in the monthly outage reports and in the provision of updated monthly data to the CSO will not always be consistent and this can give rise to differences between this statistical release and the monthly reports. The EirGrid monthly reports should be regarded as the definitive figures.
The CSO has imputed a small amount of missing daily data for 27 October 2021.
Data for all years are subject to revision.
This release will be published on a monthly basis.
Aggregated data by fuel category by 30-minute time period in megawatt-hours to four decimal places are available in the CSO PxStat database. This main PxStat file contains over 200,000 records per annum. There are also more summarised percentage tables available in PxStat. The data are subject to revision as well as updating on an ongoing basis.
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