A record 41% of Ireland’s electricity was generated by wind farms last month, figures have confirmed. 

It is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of around 320,000 Irish families and beats the previous record of 32% set in 2022. 

Despite this, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland Noel Cunniffe said that Ireland needs to accelerate the installation of new wind farms to meet the Government’s target of generating 80% of energy from renewable sources by the start of the next decade. 

“[It’s] a very strong start to the year in terms of wind energy,” he told Newstalk. 

“We need to keep building up till we get to 80% of our electricity coming from renewables by 2030. 

“Over the next few months we’re going to continue growing that with more and more wind farms coming online that are under construction at the moment.” 

A wind farm. Photo: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

As Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan has said that the transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources will drive down energy bills in the long-term. 

“This is the real opportunity for our country to switch away from fossil fuels and put it up to Putin, saying ‘We’re not going to use your gas in the future, we have our own [energy] supply’,” Minister Ryan told journalists in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. 

“The more we build, the cheaper this becomes.”

Main image: Engineers climbing wind turbine at offshore wind farm. Picture by: Alamy.com