Renewables

The figure above shows the contribution of renewable heat, transport and electricity to the overall RES target. Renewable electricity makes the largest contribution to the overall RES and has been responsible for most of the overall growth in renewable energy since 2005. The figure also shows the share of biomass, used to generate heat and electricity, that was not verified as sustainable in the context of REDII and, consequently, could not be included in Ireland's 2021 or 2022 RES.

REDI established a mandatory minimum target for the share of renewable energy sources in transport (REST) by 2020: 10% of all petrol, diesel, biofuels and electricity consumed in road and rail transport. Ireland exceeded this target reaching 10.2% RES-T in 2020. REDII requires Ireland, along with all Member States, to set an obligation on fuel suppliers to ensure that the share of renewable energy within the final consumption of energy in transport is at least 14% by 2030.

Weighting factors

REDII, as with REDI before it, specifies several weightings or multipliers that are applied to certain fuels or energy for the calculation of RES-T. These weightings help to incentivise the use of advanced biofuels and biofuels from wastes over crop-based fuels, generally promoting those with lower life-cycle greenhouse gas intensities. In addition to the change in multipliers used in the RES-T calculation, REDII also includes three limits on biomass
fuels produced from certain feedstocks.

These multipliers do not apply to the overall RES. Prior to the transition to REDII, there was a significant difference between the RES-T value and the share of renewable energy in transport, as a component of the overall RES.

The figure above shows the annual RES-T from 2005 to present and the share of renewable energy in transport, as it contributes to the overall RES. The RES-T decreased from 10.2% in 2020 to 4.4% in 2021 - 5.6 percentage points of the decrease is due to the change in calculation methodology between REDI and REDII. The RES-T increased to 5.5% in 2022. The share of renewable energy in transport, without multipliers or limits, increased from 4.3% in 2021 to 4.8% in 2022.

The graph above shows the renewable energy used in transport in absolute terms, without multipliers or limits applied. Biofuels provide almost all of the renewable energy in transport, 96.6% in 2022, with renewable electricity providing 3.4% and biomethane (also referred to as bio compressed natural gas) contributing 0.4%. While renewable electricity in private cars still constitutes a small share of the total, it has seen significant percentage growth in the last 5 years. A small quantity of bio jet kerosene (aviation biofuel) was used in Ireland for the first time in 2022.

Ireland has no mandatory national target for RES-E for 2030, nor was there one for 2020, but RES-E forms the backbone of Ireland's strategy to achieve the overall renewable energy target for 2030. Ireland's National Energy and Climate Plant (NECP 2021-2030) includes a planned RES-E of 70% in 2030, while Ireland's Climate Action Plan 2023 (CAP 23) includes a target to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources up to 80% by 2030.

The Government set an ambitious national target for RES-E of 40% for 2020. Ireland fell just short of this target, achieving 39.1% RES-E in 2020, but despite this, electricity generation has been the most successful of the three modes for the development of energy from renewable sources. Renewable energy (when aggregated) is now the second largest source of electricity after natural gas.

RES-E decreased from 39.1% in 2020 to 36.4% in 2021 and, in 2022, increased by 0.4 percentage points to reach 36.8%. In 2022, 627 GWh of the electricity that was generated from biomass fuels (i.e. biomass, landfill gas and biogas) could not be counted towards the RES-E and overall RES, as it was not verified as sustainable under RED II.

Wind generation.

In the last century, hydro was the largest contributor to renewable electricity in Ireland. Since the early 2000s electricity production from wind energy has increased dramatically. Electricity generated from wind has a particular technical characteristic, it is known as "non-synchronous" generation. Incorporating a large share of non-synchronous generation is a big challenge to grid stability. Achieving this has required the Irish grid operator, EirGrid, to become a world leader in this area.

Although there is no mandatory target for RES-H set in REDII, Ireland's NECP 2021-2030 sets out a planned RES-H of 24% by 2030 to help deliver the overall mandatory target of 34.1% renewable energy. Under REDII, Ireland, along with all other Member States, must endeavour to increase the share of renewable energy in heating and cooling by an indicative 1.1 percentage points as an annual average calculated for the periods 2021 to 2025 and 2026 to 2030.

The figure above shows the contribution from renewable energy to heat or thermal energy uses as a share of overall heat use. RES-H fell from 6.3% in 2020 to 4.9% in 2021; this decrease can be attributed to the transition from REDI to REDII and the introduction of new sustainability and verification criteria for biomass fuels. In 2022 the RES-H increased again to 6.3%.

In 2022, 1,003 GWh of the heat from biomass fuels (i.e. biomass and biogas) could not be counted towards the RES-H and overall RES, as it was not verified as sustainable under RED II,

Renewable heat use in Ireland is dominated by the use of solid biomass. Increased use of wood waste as an energy source in wood processing is the reason for most of the growth since 2000. In the residential sector there has been a large increase in the number of air source heat pumps in recent years leading to an increase in the use of renewable ambient energy.

Renewable energy reduces CO₂ emissions

The replacement of fossil fuels with renewable zero-carbon energy sources is essential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). It also improves energy security by reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The amount of CO₂ avoided through the use of renewable energy increased five-fold between 2005 and 2020, reaching 6.6 million tonnes of CO₂ (MtCO₂) avoided in 2020. This was equivalent to the CO₂ emissions of over half of all Irish homes.

The estimated amount of CO₂ avoided through the use of renewable energy was 6.75 MtCO₂ in 2022, more than any previous year, with 4.48 MtCO₂ avoided by wind energy.

Success of Renewable Electricity

Decarbonising the electricity system combined with increased electrification of heat and transport, for example through electric vehicles and heat pumps, is a crucial part of the strategy to decarbonise the energy system. The use of renewable electricity ensures that switching to electric vehicles and heat pumps results in significant reductions in CO₂ emissions compared to the fossil fuel alternative.