This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example, new administrative data sources.
This chapter explores the investment in capital assets that are used to produce Electricity, Gas & Steam. This includes electricity generating plants, wind farms, distribution and transmission networks for gas and electricity, and other long-term tangible assets used in this industry. It also includes intangible assets, such as the research and development and intellectual property of corporations in the electricity sector. The chapter also looks at energy investment outside the sector by those generating electricity for their own use.
The Electricity, Gas & Steam sector invested €1.4bn in new capital assets in 2020. This was only slightly down on the previous year, most likely due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Most of the capital investment was in Building & Construction as Table 4.1 shows. This category includes powerlines, pipelines and cables that distribute energy. While the Machinery & Equipment such as new wind turbines was a significant part of investment, the expenditure on the buildings and installation exceeded it.
| Table 4.1 Capital Investment by Electricity, Gas & Steam (NACE D) (€m) | |||
| Asset Type | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Building & Construction | 925 | 878 | 971 |
| Machinery & Equipment | 235 | 243 | 228 |
| Intangibles | 202 | 236 | 261 |
| Total | 1,362 | 1,357 | 1,460 |
This capital investment is added to the total stock of assets in Electricity, Gas & Steam. As we can see from the following table, the majority of assets are Buildings and other permanent structures that house and facilitate the Machinery & Equipment that generates energy and the structures that transmit and distribute electricity and gas around the country.
| Table 4.2: Net Stock of Fixed Capital Assets of Electricity, Gas & Steam (NACE D) 2020 (€m) | |
| Asset Type | Stock |
| Building & Construction | 14,137 |
| Machinery & Equipment | 658 |
| Intangibles | 3,494 |
| Total | 18,289 |
As well as investment in energy capacity by Electricity, Gas & Steam, there is also energy investment on a smaller scale by households and elsewhere in industry for generation for their own use.
Import figures show we imported €13m worth of solar panels in 2020, many of which were installed on houses and business premises.
| Table 4.3: Solar Panel Imports (CN 85414090) (€m) | |
| Year | Value |
| 2015 | 16 |
| 2016 | 16 |
| 2017 | 16 |
| 2018 | 18 |
| 2019 | 16 |
| 2020 | 13 |
| 2021 | 19 |
The Census of Population 2022 (Profile 2 - Housing in Ireland) reported that 119,300 households (6% of the total) had solar panels for water heating, and 1,761 households (0.1%) had a wind turbine.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) provided €134m in 2020 towards capital investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to Irish energy users. Households and corporations in a wide range of economic activities supplemented the SEAI grants with private investment in generation and efficiency. While the investment in generation will add to future value added, the money spent on efficiency and insulation should over time reduce the amount of energy consumed, and thereby lower that element of value added in the economy.
| Table 4.4: SEAI Programme Expenditure (€m) | |
| Year | Value |
| 2018 | 135 |
| 2019 | 158 |
| 2020 | 134 |
| 2021 | 209 |
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