Ireland’s Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment has announced that Ireland has reached a major milestone in its clean energy transition, achieving 8 GW of installed renewable electricity capacity (Government press release, 12/03/2026). Ireland has doubled its wind energy capacity over the past decade, and “the rapidly growing solar sector is now Ireland’s third-largest source of indigenous electricity generation,” according to the government’s press release.
In addition, according to provisional data from EirGrid (the Irish transmission system operator), 50% of electricity came from renewable sources in February 2026, marking a new peak for wind energy. Wind energy was Ireland’s largest source of electricity generation that month, supplying 41%, ahead of gas generation at 37%.
Solar energy has expanded rapidly in recent years and is now the fastest-growing renewable source in Ireland, already providing the third-highest share of indigenous electricity generation to the grid.
According to our data, the average emission factor of power generation has decreased continuously since 2010 (63% or –6.4%/year on average), reaching 170 gCO2/kWh in 2024 and expected to reach 0.1gCO2/kWh in 2050 (-25%/year) (Enerdata Global Energy Research).