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Key Findings

Renewable energy produced 49% of metered electricity generation in November 2023

Online ISSN: 2990-8183
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Renewable energy sources produced 49% of metered electricity generation in November 2023 which was the highest monthly renewable share during 2023 (See Table 1C).

  • The renewable energy share was above 40% in July (44%), August (45%), September (42%), October (42%), and November 2023 (49%).

  • A lower proportion of renewable energy was used for generation during peak electricity demand periods in November e.g. 40% between 5pm and 5:30pm compared with 59% between 2:30am and 4am (See Table 5A).

  • Metered electricity generation from solar farms increased from 20,120 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2022 to 428,364 MWh for January to November 2023 (See Table 2).

  • The monthly half-hourly period in November with the lowest metered electricity generation was between 4:30am and 5am with 42,907 MWh (See Table 4A).

  • The monthly half-hourly period in November with the highest metered electricity generation was between 5pm and 5:30pm when it was 68,189 MWh (See Table 4A).

  • Imports of electricity in November 2023 were 328,583 MWh which was 212% higher than the November 2022 figure of 105,472 MWh (See Table 7B).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 January 2024) published Metered Electricity Generation for November 2023.

Commenting on the release Dympna Corry, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "The data show the amount of metered electricity generated in each half-hour period classified by the main fuel used in each power plant to generate the electricity. The release shows how the proportion of metered electricity generated from renewable fuel sources (Wind, Solar, Renewable Hydro, and Other Renewable) varies by time of day and by month. A higher proportion of fossil fuels was required to meet peak electricity demand around 5pm to 6pm.”

Monthly and Year-to-date Peak Demand

For the first 11 months of 2023, peak electricity demand exceeded 650,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) in seven half-hourly periods (See Table 4A and Figure 1). These seven periods all occurred between 4:30pm and 8pm. The highest 30-minute period over the aggregated 11 months was between 6pm and 6:30pm at 680,433 MWh. The time period with the highest half-hourly generation within a single month was in January 2023 when 73,791 MWh were generated between 5:30pm and 6pm.

Natural Gas and Wind

Natural Gas and Wind dominate the generation of electricity. They often move in opposite directions so that on days where a high proportion of electricity is generated from Wind, there is a substantial decrease in the amount generated from Natural Gas. In November 2023, Gas and Wind both accounted for 43% of metered electricity generation (See Table 1A). The overall rates for January to November 2023 were 49% for Gas and 37% for Wind (See Table 2).

Solar Farms

Metered electricity generated from Solar farms increased from 20,120 MWh in 2022 to 428,364 MWh for the first 11 months of 2023 (See Table 2). June was the month with most generation from Solar farms with 68,120 MWh (See Table 1B). Only Gas (1,358,163 MWh), Wind (552,350 MWh), and Coal (99,594 MWh) generated more electricity during June 2023.

The monthly half-hourly period in 2023 with the highest amount of metered electricity generated from Solar farms occurred between 2pm and 2:30pm in May with a monthly figure of 3,505 MWh for that 30-minute period (See Table 4C). The highest half-hourly period for Solar farm generation in November 2023 was between 11:30am and 12 noon at 2,179 MWh.

Electricity generated by households and enterprises, primarily for own consumption, is not included in this release (e.g. household rooftop panels).

Renewable Hydro

There was 928,144 MWh of metered electricity generated by Renewable Hydro in 2020 which was the highest in the 2020-2023 time series (See Table 2). For the first 11 months of 2023, there were 811,295 MWh generated.

In 2023, January was the month with the highest generation from Renewable Hydro at 120,910 MWh (See Table 1B). November with 114,791 MWh and October with 101,217 MWh were the next two highest months for electricity generation from Renewable Hydro in 2023.

For the first 11 months of 2023, Renewable Hydro was the fourth highest fuel source for metered electricity generation with 811,295 MWh compared with 536,974 MWh for waste and 428,364 MWh for Solar farms (See Table 2).

Monthly Renewable Hydro generation exceeded that of Solar farms for January to April 2023 and for August to November 2023 (See Table 1B).

Coal

Electricity generated from Coal increased from 723,440 MWh in 2020 to 2.8 million MWh in 2021 and 2.5 million MWh in 2022 (See Table 2). The January to November 2023 electricity generation from Coal was 1.1 million MWh.

Exports and Imports of Electricity

For January to November 2023, 0.4 million MWh were exported which was well below the 2022 annual figure of 1.3 million MWh (See Table 7A). There has been a sharp increase in Imports of electricity in 2023 with the January to November total of 3.4 million MWh being more than double the full year 2022 figure of 1.6 million MWh (See Table 7B).

Primary Fuels used in Metered Electricity Generation

Gas was used for 48% of metered electricity generation in 2020 (See Table A). This decreased to 46% in 2021 when there was a substantial increase in the Coal share to 9%. Metered electricity generated from Solar farms increased from 0.1% in 2022 to 1.6% for the first 11 months of 2023.

Table A Percentage of Metered Electricity Generation by Selected Primary Fuel Types
YearGasWindCoalRenewable HydroWasteSolar
 Percentage %
202047.938.82.33.01.80.0
202145.733.19.12.42.00.0
202247.535.17.82.21.80.1
2023 (year-to-date)48.837.34.03.02.01.6

Half-hourly Generation Trends During November

Metered electricity generation in November 2023 increased in the morning particularly between 7am and 9:30am. It was highest in the evening from around 5pm to 6pm (See Figure 1 and Table 4A).

There were 2.7 million MWh of metered electricity generated in November 2023 which was 7.7% lower than the November 2022 figure of 2.9 million MWh (See Table 1A).

2020202120222023
00:00-00:30573669559393584890495950
00:30-01:00567069556078581774488297
01:00-01:30560981551880575653479313
01:30-02:00547217536887558593469033
02:00-02:30540277532882556135464080
02:30-03:00530586522045547581451871
03:00-03:30530774522755550903450380
03:30-04:00528179517303545171443723
04:00-04:30538450526515553382452162
04:30-05:00544148531371557620451958
05:00-05:30565619549884577637472875
05:30-06:00576468560862597540486316
06:00-06:30596117580796629067513256
06:30-07:00615335605283657782535345
07:00-07:30638219626509681544559202
07:30-08:00658210647180701489584319
08:00-08:30669859662188707189592450
08:30-09:00677001672425713177603509
09:00-09:30682545673616714031607624
09:30-10:00687338673593714756608982
10:00-10:30691210676013716257607368
10:30-11:00695673678232716521606431
11:00-11:30704959682978719843610994
11:30-12:00709242684535719270610815
12:00-12:30710676685104720968614612
12:30-13:00702219677769715479613655
13:00-13:30698661675280717804611764
13:30-14:00690149665191711181600578
14:00-14:30692053665024715665604284
14:30-15:00693895666460718716600032
15:00-15:30701792674375727018606190
15:30-16:00720538694851743919613463
16:00-16:30736291712438759537627957
16:30-17:00761617740584782032650668
17:00-17:30771818750444787329668187
17:30-18:00772930754522788204678280
18:00-18:30763842748431783411680433
18:30-19:00749833734348771111672228
19:00-19:30740281724188764273667083
19:30-20:00722124700144744761650316
20:00-20:30711294687166732477636587
20:30-21:00690409660752707234619646
21:00-21:30678356645819691495608657
21:30-22:00648089613233659665580374
22:00-22:30624035597606637870562240
22:30-23:00600755582339614070529635
23:00-23:30592010576578606171515663
23:30-24:00577892563709589772502428
Table 1A Metered Electricity Generation by Primary Fuel Category November 2020-2023

Primary Fuel Share in Monthly Metered Electricity Generation

Natural Gas is the main fuel used to generate electricity. In 2023, it varied from 61% in both May and June 2023 to 43% in both January and November (See Table 1B). In contrast, Wind was used to produce 43% of total metered electricity generation in January, February, and November. Wind generated 25% of metered electricity in both May and June.

In 2022, the highest proportion of electricity generated from Gas was 63% in August while for Wind it was 55% in February.

Battery Storage Biomass/Peat Coal Gas Renewable Hydro Hydro Storage Oil Solar Waste Wind
January015434100243
February023452120143
March024463111240
April024483101238
May024612003225
June024610103225
July004503103238
August003484103238
September005492102237
October024484112236
November014424101243

On the 17 January a revision was made to the data in Figure 2, March and July were amended to correct for two percentage figures that had a trailing zero dropped during the IT process to upload the data to the CSO website.

Table 1B Metered Electricity Generation by Primary Fuel Category January-November 2023

Monthly Renewable Energy Share

February 2020 and February 2022 had the highest monthly share of renewable energy in metered electricity generation at 59% (See Table 1C). July 2021 at 16% had the lowest renewable energy share during the January 2020 to November 2023 time series. The renewable energy share by month and half-hourly period for 2023 is given in Table 5A and shows much greater variation than the aggregated monthly figures in Table 1C.

Table 1C Renewable Energy Percentage of Metered Electricity Generation January 2020-November 2023

Annual Metered Electricity Generation

Gas and Wind were the main primary fuels used in 2020-2023. In January to November 2023, there were 13.3 million MWh of electricity generated from Gas compared with 10.2 million MWh generated from Wind (See Table 2).

Table 2 Metered Electricity Generation by Primary Fuel Category 2020-2023

Daily Metered Electricity Generation

There were four days in November 2020, nine days in November 2021, 10 days in November 2022, and two days in November 2023 when the daily metered electricity generation total exceeded 100,000 MWh (See Table 3A). In November 2023, the highest daily figure was 113,148 MWh on 30 November.

The highest daily metered electricity generation during January to November 2023 occurred on 09 March when it was 113,205 MWh (See Table 3B). The lowest daily figure for January to November was 54,644 MWh on 02 July.

Solar Farm Generation is Highest in June

In 2023, generation by Solar farms was highest in June at 68,120 MWh (See Table 4C). January had the lowest amount of metered electricity generated by Solar farms at 4,140 MWh however more Solar farms were connected to the grid as the year progressed.

Table 3A Metered Electricity Generation for All Primary Fuels by Day November 2020-2023

Table 3B Metered Electricity Generation for All Primary Fuels by Day January-November 2023

Monthly Metered Electricity Generation by Time Period

The three highest half-hourly periods for metered electricity generation for an aggregated January to November 2023 occurred between 5:30pm and 7pm when over 670,000 MWh was generated in each half-hour. The lowest half-hourly period for the 11 months was between 3:30am and 4am when 443,723 MWh were generated (See Table 4A).

Coal Gas Renewable Hydro Solar Waste Wind
00:00-00:3043550251
00:30-01:0043550252
01:00-01:3043450252
01:30-02:0043350253
02:00-02:3043350253
02:30-03:0043350253
03:00-03:3043350253
03:30-04:0043350253
04:00-04:3043350252
04:30-05:0043450252
05:00-05:3043450251
05:30-06:0043550251
06:00-06:3043950248
06:30-07:0044140246
07:00-07:3044440243
07:30-08:0044640241
08:00-08:3044640240
08:30-09:0044641239
09:00-09:3044641238
09:30-10:0044642238
10:00-10:3044643238
10:30-11:0044543239
11:00-11:3044543240
11:30-12:0044444240
12:00-12:3044444241
12:30-13:0044444241
13:00-13:3044343242
13:30-14:0044343242
14:00-14:3044542241
14:30-15:0044642241
15:00-15:3044741240
15:30-16:0044841239
16:00-16:3044840238
16:30-17:0054840236
17:00-17:3054740236
17:30-18:0054640236
18:00-18:3054540237
18:30-19:0044540238
19:00-19:3044640239
19:30-20:0044540240
20:00-20:3044540241
20:30-21:0034540241
21:00-21:3034550242
21:30-22:0034350244
22:00-22:3034150246
22:30-23:0043950247
23:00-23:3043950248
23:30-24:0043850249
Table 4A Metered Electricity Generation for All Primary Fuels by Time Period January-November 2023

Wind Generation is Highest in Winter

The amount of metered electricity generated from Wind farms varies substantially throughout the year. In January 2023, 1.2 million MWh were generated by Wind which was more than twice the 0.6 million MWh generated during June (See Table 4B and Figure 4). February was the month with the highest amount of Wind generated electricity in each of the years 2020 to 2022 (See Figure 4).

2020202120222023
January126083998610010230251226819
February1589648140338115494881121321
March123961810043589639551139129
April607100672878859288944095
May819394773168869679579223
June775125627494741540552350
July810722317264527659887836
August669058569234521486895663
September804480540086654946859628
October11921749610041262786844081
November110333096588013490751147793
December129594512687981047832
Table 4B Metered Electricity Generation for Wind by Time Period January-November 2023

Table 4C Metered Electricity Generation for Solar by Time Period January-November 2023

Renewable Hydro Generation is Highest in Winter

There were 120,910 MWh generated from Renewable Hydro in January 2023 (See Table 4D). This was the highest month so far in 2023. The next highest month was November when there were 114,791 MWh generated.

Renewable HydroSolarWaste
January120910414053347
February549621015038170
March815831717147352
April856643634446855
May402256569055514
June77046812043810
July599086363037067
August890055917956847
September553254470152547
October1012173665656588
November1147912258448877
Table 4D Metered Electricity Generation for Renewable Hydro by Time Period January-November 2023

Renewable Energy Sources Proportion by Time Period and Month

The months with the lowest half-hourly proportion of renewable metered electricity at 23% were May 2023 between 7:30am and 8:30am and June between 8:30pm and 9:30pm (See Table 5A). The monthly half-hourly periods in 2023 with the highest proportion of renewable metered electricity generation were between 1:30am and 4am for November when the share was 59% in four out of the five half-hourly periods (See Table 5A).

2020202120222023
00:00-00:3046404244
00:30-01:0046404244
01:00-01:3047404245
01:30-02:0047414345
02:00-02:3047414346
02:30-03:0047414346
03:00-03:3047414346
03:30-04:0046414346
04:00-04:3046414246
04:30-05:0045404245
05:00-05:3044394144
05:30-06:0043383943
06:00-06:3043373842
06:30-07:0042363741
07:00-07:3041353639
07:30-08:0040343538
08:00-08:3039333438
08:30-09:0039333538
09:00-09:3040333538
09:30-10:0040333539
10:00-10:3040333640
10:30-11:0041343642
11:00-11:3041343743
11:30-12:0041353744
12:00-12:3042353844
12:30-13:0043363945
13:00-13:3043363946
13:30-14:0044373947
14:00-14:3044373947
14:30-15:0043373947
15:00-15:3043363847
15:30-16:0042353746
16:00-16:3041343745
16:30-17:0040333643
17:00-17:3039333542
17:30-18:0039323540
18:00-18:3039323439
18:30-19:0039333539
19:00-19:3039333439
19:30-20:0040343539
20:00-20:3040343539
20:30-21:0041363639
21:00-21:3042363739
21:30-22:0043383840
22:00-22:3045393941
22:30-23:0045394043
23:00-23:3046404144
23:30-24:0046404244
Table 5A: Renewable Energy Percentage of Metered Electricity Generation by Time Period January-November 2023

Natural Gas Proportion by Time Period and Month

The percentage of metered electricity generated from Gas in November 2023 was highest at 48% between 3:30pm and 5pm (See Table 5B and Figure 3). The monthly half-hourly periods during January to November 2023 with the highest share of metered electricity generation by Natural Gas were between 7am and 8:30am in May at 67% (See Table 5B). The time periods with the lowest Natural Gas share were between 1:30am and 4:30am in November at 33%.

Table 5B Natural Gas Percentage of Metered Electricity Generation by Time Period January-November 2023

Wind Proportion by Time Period and Month

The monthly half-hourly periods in 2023 with the highest share of metered electricity generation by Wind were between 1:30am and 4am in November at 53% (See Table 5C and Figure 3). The time periods with the lowest Wind share in 2023 were between 8am and 9am in May at 18%.

Table 5C Wind Percentage of Metered Electricity Generation by Time Period January-November 2023

Number of Generation Plants by Primary Fuel

There were around 500 metered electricity generation plants connected to the national grid during January to November 2023 (See Table 6). A power plant was calculated on the basis of its unique identification number. The unique ID is changed when a plant is sold so the same location could be counted more than once. Wind farms accounted for 62% of power plants in January to November 2023. In 2022, 15 Solar farms were connected to the grid and this increased to 20 in 2023.

Table 6 Number of Generation Plants by Primary Fuel Category 2020-2023

Exports and Imports of Electricity

For January to November 2023 a total of 401,566 MWh were exported (See Table 7A). Imports increased considerably in 2023 to 3.4 million MWh for January to November - total imports in 2022 were 1.6 million MWh (See Table 7B).

ExportsImports
201510786041751974
20161583011871294
201717949101116408
201816492491621519
201915350382179579
202019130961761447
20218633292450923
202213297321581628
20234015663433723
Table 7A Exports of Electricity January 2015-November 2023

Table 7B Imports of Electricity January 2015-November 2023

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