Northern Ireland Renewables Hit Record 53% of Electricity — SkimNews
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- Renewable sources generated 53% of Northern Ireland's electricity in the year to June, beating the previous record set in 2022.
- Wind supplied 74% of NI's renewable electricity, followed by bioenergy at 18% (anaerobic digestion, incineration and fermentation), solar at 6%, landfill gas at 1% and hydro/tidal at 1%.
- Since January, renewable generation has consistently exceeded non-renewable generation — the first time that has happened on a sustained basis.
- Even with imported electricity included, renewables matched the previous record of 50% set in 2022/23.
- Northern Ireland's official target is 80% renewable electricity by 2030, roughly 27 percentage points above the current level.
- A high rate of dispatch down persists, with turbines switched off when grid demand cannot absorb the power being generated.
- Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said rising global fossil fuel costs were 'impacting negatively' on businesses and lower-income households, framing renewables as a route to 'more stable and fairer prices.'
Why it matters: Northern Ireland has cleared 50% renewable electricity but its own 80% target by 2030 requires closing a 27-point gap in under five years — a climb made harder by grid constraints that already force turbines offline via dispatch down, meaning new generation capacity alone won't move the needle.
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