Europe
IE flag

Ireland

IRL

Ireland is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.

43% of its electricity is wind and solar; 52% is still fossil. Both are true at once, and that tension is the whole story of the transition.

Wind and solar
43%
alongside 52% fossil
Clean share
48%
in 2025
Total output
31TWh
a year
Per person
5,831kWh
a year
Compare IrelandSee it on the map
Ireland · mix since 2000
20002025
WindSolarOtherHydroGasOilCoal
Ireland's electricity is cleaner than the world average. 257 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour against a world figure of 458 — 44% below.

What this grid depends on

Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.

Carbon intensity
257g CO₂e per kWh

Cleaner than 7 in 10 grids worldwide.

What this means

How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.

Electricity imported
18% of what it uses

Ireland buys in more electricity than it sends out.

What this means

The share of the electricity used here that was generated abroad and carried in over high-voltage lines. The higher it climbs, the more this country relies on a neighbour to keep its lights on.

Energy independence
40out of 100 · Critical Dependency

Most of the fuel behind this grid is bought from abroad.

What this means

How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.

Also true of Ireland

Ireland has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.

439 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2015, 257 in 2025.

Ireland is third in Europe for wind.

Wind supplies 38% of its electricity.

Ireland is third in the OECD for gas.

Gas supplies 48% of its electricity.

Ireland’s neighbours

Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for Ireland. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.