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Ireland imports almost 82% of its energy in the form of oil and gas. As Ireland continues to diversify its energy sources in line with an overall objective of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050, we have a look at where our energy comes from, what efforts are being made to increase renewable energy production in Ireland and how these influence the cost of your home electricity and gas.
As an island nation with no large fossil fuel reserves such as oil or coal, Ireland is highly dependent on imported sources of energy.
According to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), as of 2022, Ireland imports almost 82% of its energy, placing it amongst the top eight of EU countries in terms of reliance on imported energy.
Smaller countries such as Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg make up the top eight along with some larger countries such as Greece and Italy.
Of the imported energy, over half comes in the form of refined oil, at 46%. Following this, Ireland’s biggest fossil fuel import is natural gas at 27%.
While Ireland is improving on reducing its dependency on fossil fuels by continued investment in and expansion in its renewable energy network, it is still lagging behind, accounting for a little less than 16% of Ireland’s energy supply with the majority coming from wind farms.
Ireland still generates energy from small scale coal imports but this only accounts for roughly 3.5% of energy production.
The remaining 4.2% comes from a combination of peat, hydro and other small scale renewables.
Ireland’s dependence on oil is one of the highest in the EU with transport by far the biggest consumer in the form of petrol, diesel, jet fuel etc.
62% of oil consumption is made up by transport alone.
The other major consumer of oil in Ireland is heating. Given Ireland’s climate, home heating is necessary for several months of the year, placing huge demand on oil imports to heat our homes.
The remaining oil is used for electricity generation.
Almost 75% of natural gas used in Ireland is imported, once again showing how reliant we are on imported fossil fuels to power the country.
Gas is imported to Ireland from the UK through an underwater pipe network originating in Moffat in Scotland.
The remaining gas, about 25%, is sourced from the Corrib gas field off the coast of Mayo and while there were some predictions that the amount of gas available was reducing, indications are that there is still ample supply for the next 20 to 30 years.
Apart from Ireland's gas reserves at the Corrib gas field, Ireland has no major source of fossil energy, hence its high dependence on imported energy.
Despite this, there has been a concerted effort from the Irish government to increase domestic production of energy in order to reduce Ireland's dependency on imports.
Since 2000, Ireland has seen a significant increase in the percentage of renewable energy generated from wind going from 1.6% at the start of the century, to 33.1% in 2022.
The vast majority of this comes from wind energy, with there now just over 300 wind farms across the Republic of Ireland.
Although the domestic production of energy has greatly increased, renewable energy in the form of wind, solar and hydro still only account for roughly 16% of Ireland’s energy mix.
While Ireland has made strides towards increasing its domestic production of energy through investment in wind power, it still lags well behind other EU nations when it comes to renewable energy, placing almost bottom amongst the 27 EU nations for share of energy from renewable sources.
How secure a country’s energy supply is intrinsically linked to the amount of energy it imports.
Simply put, the more energy you import compared to produce, the more vulnerable you are going to be vulnerable to changes in energy supply and the energy market as a whole.
Given that Ireland still imports the vast majority of our energy producing fuels, it makes us much more vulnerable to sudden changes in energy supply, which can be seen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Before Russia’s invasion, the EU was importing almost 25% of its energy needs from Russia, including a significant amount of oil and natural gas.
While Ireland was not directly importing Russian gas or oil, indirectly through the EU energy supply chain Ireland was affected by the EU ban on Russian energy imports, leading to a huge increase in the cost of oil and gas.
Once again, Ireland’s dependency on imported energy is one of the reasons consumers have seen such a drastic increase in the cost of electricity and gas over the last 4 years.
In 2022 alone, Ireland’s vulnerability to changes in the energy market were laid bare when, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent ban on energy imports from Russia, the energy market was sent into turmoil as wholesale prices of oil and gas skyrocketed across the EU.
In Ireland, electricity prices rose by 26.7% while gas prices rose by an estimated 37.5% putting many homes under huge financial pressure from high energy bills as they struggled to power and heat their homes over winter.
Previous to this, the Covid-19 pandemic also led to big changes in the price of energy in Ireland.
Following a fall in the demand for energy during lockdowns and the subsequent decrease in economic activity as people opted not to switch energy providers, a surge in demand as economies reopened put huge pressure on energy suppliers, leading to significant price increases.
While the energy market has stabilised somewhat in the last year, leading to a fall in gas and electricity prices, these two examples show just how vulnerable Ireland is to energy insecurity and why the need to continue to reduce our dependency on imports is paramount.
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As a signatory of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, Ireland has committed itself to a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
While this in itself is vitally important in tackling climate change and the decreasing of average global temperatures, it also represents an opportunity for Ireland to secure its domestic energy production through the expansion of the renewable energy network, while at the same time reducing its reliance on imported energy.
As part of this initiative, the following measures are being pursued:
The Irish government is significantly increasing its investment in renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar power.
The country has set ambitious targets to increase its renewable electricity capacity, aiming for at least 70% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030.
This includes large-scale offshore wind projects, which are expected to play a crucial role in meeting these targets.
As it stands now, Ireland is still somewhat off reaching this target and further investment will be required to reach the 2030 target.
Improving energy efficiency across all sectors is also part of the government's plan to reduce energy consumption.
Through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), home and business owners can avail of a wide range of grants, including for the upgrading of building standards, installation of energy efficient technology and the purchase of electrical vehicles.
The aim is to lower energy consumption and promote more sustainable practices, in turn reducing home energy bills and costs.
The Micro-generation Support Scheme is part of Ireland's Climate Action Plan and is aimed at supporting the microgeneration of electricity by homeowners.
By assisting in the purchasing of solar panels through an SEAI grant scheme, the idea is for homeowners to offset their energy needs by using solar energy to power a percentage of the energy needs of their homes.
The scheme also supports homeowners who produce excess energy and wish to sell it back into the national grid, thereby further reducing the need for imported energy.
Projects like the Celtic Interconnector, which will link Ireland's electricity network with France's, are aimed at providing access to the European electricity market.
This will allow Ireland to diversify its sources of electricity in particular, giving it greater access to renewable energy by allowing Ireland to import and export renewable energy.
This is particularly important for managing the variable output from renewable energy sources like wind and solar power and the increase in demand for energy during the winter months.
The project is expected to be completed by 2026 and could see a fall in electricity prices for consumers as Ireland gains greater access to the European energy market.
Given that 62% of oil consumed in Ireland is by transport, any reduction in oil imports will need to be met with an increase in the number of electric vehicles driven in Ireland.
The government have set an ambitious target of one million EV cars on the road by 2030 with grants available for their purchase through the SEAI.
As of 2024, there are roughly 110,000 EV vehicles on Irish roads, meaning there will need to be a significant uptake in purchases if the 2030 objective is to be met.
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