21 July 2026

Multiple renewable energy records in Ireland in first half of 2026

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The first six months of 2026 saw a number of significant milestones for renewable energy powering the electricity system in Ireland.

Data from EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, shows that:

In January all-time demand peaks for a Saturday and a Sunday were recorded. On Saturday 3 January at 5.39pm demand reached 5297MW and on Sunday 4 January demand reached 5480MW at 5.31pm. The previous record for a Saturday was set in January 2025 and for a Sunday in November 2025.
A new record for wind generation was set in February, reaching 3,898 MW on Saturday 14 February at 5.50pm. This exceeded the previous records of 3,884 MW in February 2025 and 3866 MW in December 2023.
February saw a further new peak electricity demand record for a Saturday, reaching 5408 MW at 6.10pm on Saturday 14 February.
Renewable generation met around half of electricity demand for the months of February, March and April.
April saw a new record for solar power, as Ireland reached a peak of over 1 GW (gigawatt) of electricity provided by grid-scale solar power for the first time. The peak of 1 GW (1021 MW) was set on Monday 20 April at 12.19pm
On Monday 25 May a further new peak for grid-scale solar was achieved contributing 1222 MW to Ireland’s electricity mix.
The month of June saw a record amount of solar energy on the power system, contributing 8.2% to the overall fuel mix.This compared to 7.8% in May and to 5.3% in June 2025.

Records such as these demonstrate the progress that we are making to ensure a cleaner, greener energy future for Ireland.