Natural gas remains the backbone of the country’s energy mix, generating 46% of the Republic of Ireland’s electricity in 2021 or 43% on an all-island basis.

Gas-fired power plants remained the primary source of electricity in Ireland last year. Wind’s share of electricity generation fell from 35% in 2020 to 29% in 2021.

Gas electrical output was curtailed by higher than expected maintenance across a number of power plants.

Overall demand also decreased by 4.7% due to the continued impact of COVID-19 restrictions and relatively milder weather conditions also playing a role.

Renewables and coal

At their peak, gas and wind powered up to 82% and 77% of Ireland’s electricity needs respectively, but the intermittent nature of wind saw it drop lower than 1% at times.

The amount of electricity generated by coal rose by 6% in 2021, compensating for maintenance at gas-fired power plants and less wind generation.

At its peak, coal provided as much as 29% of total electricity supply.

As coal produces 40% more CO2 than natural gas, increasing coal-fired generation results in a significant increase in emissions.

Transport

With the opening of two more compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling stations in 2021, demand for gas as an alternative to diesel in the commercial transport sector was up 78% year on year, with further growth expected in this market in 2022.

Comment on decarbonisation

Despite natural gas forming the cornerstone of electricity generation in Ireland, no clear support mechanism exists to encourage the decarbonisation of this gas.

Ireland’s wind generation potential arguably outstrips our demand. However, developing the wind energy infrastructure to realise this takes time.

Having the reliability of always-on gas to be the constant back-up supporting intermittent renewable generation will always be a feature of Ireland’s energy mix.

So if this gas was made from renewable sources, ie from biomethane produced from farm anaerobic digestion plants, then by default this electricity would be renewable.