The National Energy Balance presents detailed information on how and where energy is used in Ireland for a given year.

SEAI’s National Energy Balance is the definitive source of data for the supply, transformation, and demand of energy in Ireland. It is produced by SEAI’s Energy Statistics Team and is based on the direct surveying of hundreds of energy suppliers, as well as public administrative data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), Revenue Commissioners, and others.

National Energy Balance and Key Insights

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Download the Energy Balance tables for 1990 to 2022 and the Key Insights from the 2022 Energy Balance

Key Insights from 2022 Energy BalanceFull Energy Balance 1990-2022

Bubble plot summary of Energy Balance

Download a bubble plot summary of the 2022 Energy Balance

Bubble plot summary of 2022 Energy Balance

Highlights from the 2022 Energy Balance

  • +4.8%

    Increase in final energy consumption

  • +20.1%

    Increase in transport sector

  • -12.0%

    Decrease in residential sector

Ireland’s final energy demand in 2022 was 4.8% higher than in 2021. This overall year-on-year increase was largely driven by:

  • 20.1% increase in energy demand in the transport sector, as Covid-19 impacts on travel continued to decline; and
  • 12.0% decrease in energy consumption in the residential sector.
Key insights from 2022 Energy Balance

Annual energy flow

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Oil,TPER,6911
Nat. Gas,TPER,4471
Coal,TPER,727
Peat,TPER,223
Non-renewable wastes,TPER,148
Wind,TPER,964
Hydo,TPER,60
Biomass & Other Renewables,TPER,987
Electricity imports (net),TPER,22
TPER,Transformation losses,2412
TPER,TFC,12069
Transformation losses,Other Energy Sector Own Use/Loss,63
Transformation losses,Oil Refining,119
Transformation losses,Electricity Transformation & Distribution Losses,2231
TFC,Agriculture & Fisheries,332
TFC,Commercial/Public,1868
TFC,Industry,2143
TFC,Residential,2737
TFC,Transport,4989
Source: SEAI

Energy-related CO2

  • 33.5 MtCO2 National Energy related CO2
  • 10.1 MtCO2 Electricity
  • 12.0 MtCO2 Heat
  • 11.4 MtCO2 Transport

Despite final energy demand increasing in 2022, energy-related emissions1 were 1.8% lower than in 2021. This overall net reduction in energy-related emissions originates from the sum of:

  • a decrease in emissions from heat demand (-8.3%),
  • a decrease in emissions from electricity generation2 (-2.0%), and
  • an increase in transport emissions1 (+6.2%).

1 International aviation and international maritime navigation are excluded from national energy emission calculations because they are reported separately in accordance with guidance from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

2 Public power plants and CHP plants.

Key insights from 2022 Energy Balance

Renewable energy

  • 13.1%

    Overall share of renewable energy sources

  • 6.8 MtCO2

    Avoided

Ireland’s energy mix contains more renewable energy than ever before. 2022 was the first year in which Ireland’s indigenous production of renewable energy (i.e. wind, hydro, biomass, ambient heat from heat pumps, etc.) exceeded indigenous production of fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas, peat, etc.). Renewable energy acts to displace fossil fuels and reduce energy-related CO2 emissions.

Ireland’s renewable energy share (RES) is calculated under a methodology set out in the EU’s second Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). The provisional RES values1 for 2022 are as follows:

  • Overall share of energy from renewable sources (RES-O) was 13.1%
  • Share of energy from renewable sources in electricity (RES-E) was 36.8%
  • Share of energy from renewable sources in transport (RES-T) was 5.5%
  • Share of energy from renewable sources in heat (RES-H) was 6.2%

1 The RES-O, RES-E, RES-T and RES-H values are provisional. Official RES values are calculated by Eurostat’s EU-SHARES tool, not by SEAI. SEAI will finalise the dataset submitted to Eurostat for the calculation of the 2022 RES values in advance of the December 2023 deadline. SEAI will update this dataset with any new or updated values it receives from energy suppliers in advance of the submission deadline. These updates may relate to renewable energy quantities or the sustainability status of biomass fuels under REDII rules.

Key insights from 2022 Energy Balance

Sector Summaries

Transport

Transport has the highest energy demand of any sector, accounting for 41.3% of total final consumption in 2022. Transport energy demand in 2022 and was up by 20.1% on 2021 levels, as Covid-19 impacts on travel continued to decline, particularly in aviation.

Residential

The residential sector has the second highest energy demand of any sector and accounted for 22.7% of total final consumption in 2022. Residential energy demand in 2022 was 12.1% lower than in 2021 due to a combination of higher fuel costs, return-to-office behaviours, fuel-switching, efficiency improvements, and weather effects. Almost all (>95%) of the heat demand reduction observed in 2022 came from the residential sector.

Industry

The industry sector accounted for 17.8% of total final consumption in 2022. Industry energy demand in 2022 was 4.3% lower than in 2021, mainly driven by reduced demand for natural gas.

Commercial and Public Services

In 2022, commercial services accounted for 11.1% of total energy demand and public services accounted for 4.3% of energy demand. Commercial services energy demand in 2022 was 8.7% higher than in 2021. This increase was almost entirely driven by a 24.5% increase in electricity demand from the ICT sub-sector due to datacentre demand. Public services energy demand in 2022 was comparable to that in 2021, reducing by 0.7%.

Key insights from 2022 Energy Balance

Background

In addition to providing insights into Ireland’s energy landscape, the Energy Balance is a key input into the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory, and so directly informs emission results against our legally binding carbon budget and sectoral ceiling obligations. The Energy Balance is used to determine Ireland’s results against national and European targets on renewable energy share (RES), and our targets mandated by the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Data from the Energy Balance is also used to satisfy Ireland’s international reporting obligations to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the European Commission under Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on Energy Statistics.

The Interim Energy Balance (published in May) details the supply and transformation of Ireland’s national energy portfolio, with the Full Energy Balance (published in September) adding the sectoral demand and emissions for Ireland’s energy.

In preparing authoritative data-releases on Ireland’s energy supply and demand, SEAI balances the competing requirements of timeliness and accuracy in its reporting. Statisticians at SEAI work to reconcile, aggregate, and supplement provisional monthly data, to create definitive annual data, and cross-check these calculations with other national agencies, such as the EPA and CSO, to ensure a coherent and self-consistent national record.

SEAI works to continuously improve the statistical methodology and coverage of the Energy Balance, balancing the availability of new data sources with the need for long-term stability for cross-year comparisons. We welcome feedback to epssu@seai.ie.