National energy balance

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.

On 3rd September 2024, SEAI published the full National Energy Balance for 2023.

Trends in Ireland's Energy-Related Emissions

• Ireland's national energy-related emissions[1] were down by 7.6% in 2023 and reached their lowestlevel in 30 years but are still not falling fast enough to stay within our carbon budgets.
• The main driver of reduced energy-related emissions in 2023 was the reduced emissions from electricity generation.

[1] Ireland's national and sectoral emission totals do not include emissions associated with international aviation or maritime transport, which are calculated and reported separately in accordance with guidance from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Trends in Ireland's Renewable Energy

• Ireland used 23.38 TWh of renewable energy in 2023, up from 21.68 TWh in 2022. Wind accounted for just under half (49.9%) of that renewable energy, followed by biodiesel (13.4%) and biomass (11.0%).
• Wind generation in 2023 was 4.1% higher than in 2022, and higher than any previous year, setting a new annual record of 11.7 TWh.
• Solar electricity generation in 2023 was 334% higher than in 2022, but accounted for just 1.9% of Ireland's electricity supply.
• In 2023, 64% of solar generation came from utility-scale solar farms and 36% came from rooftop solar panels.
• Electricity from Irish solar farms increased by over 2400% in 2023, as multiple new utility-scale sites were grid-connected, while electricity from rooftop solar panels increased by 74%.
• The use of renewable ambient heat from heat pumps increased by almost 25%.

The following are the provisional values for the share of renewable energy in Ireland's gross final consumption of energy in 2023, calculated from the data contained in the National Energy Balance and other associated data, in accordance with the EU's recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) and associated guidance from Eurostat:

• Overall share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption (RES-overall) was 14.6%.
• Share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of electricity (RES-E) was 38.9%.
• Share of energy from renewable sources in final consumption of energy the transport sector (RES-T) was 7.6%.
• Share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in heating and cooling (RES-H) was 7.2%.

Ireland's Generation and Import of Electricity

• Although Ireland's final consumption of electricity increased by 4.4% in 2023, the generation of electricity in Ireland fell by 6.7%, due to an increased use of imported electricity through interconnectors to Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• In 2023, Ireland generated 3.3 TWh less electricity from fossil fuels than in 2022, balanced by 3.0 TWh more electricity imported through international interconnectors and 1.0 TWh more renewable generation in Ireland.
• Ireland's net import of electricity across interconnectors increased 13-fold, increasing from 0.25 TWh in 2022 to 3.28 TWh in 2023 and set a new annual record for the level of net import of electricity.
• Interconnector electricity accounted for 9.5% of electricity supply in 2023, compared to 0.7% of electricity supply in 2022.
• Interconnector electricity was the third largest source of electricity in 2023, after natural gas (44.3%) and wind (33.7%).
• Net imports through interconnectors provided more electricity than all coal, peat, hydro, biogas, solar, and oil generation in Ireland combined.
• Of the extra 1.32 TWh electricity consumed in 2023, the increased demand from data centres counted for 1.06 TWh.
• In 2023, data centres accounted for 20.0% of Ireland's electricity consumption.
• The residential sector, consisting of 1.9 million occupied dwellings, accounted for 25.5% of electricity consumption.

Trends in Ireland's Transport Energy

• Ireland used 1.35 billion litres of jet kerosene in 2023 - the highest annual consumption ever recorded and up 12.9% on the previous year.
• In 2023, 91.9% of Ireland's road transport demand came from fossil fuels.
• Consumption of road diesel and petrol (including biofuel components) increased by 0.7% and 7.7% respectively.
• In 2023, consumption of road diesel and petrol (including biofuel components) stood at 98.4% and 96.2% of pre-COVID 2019 levels, respectively.
• The increased blending of renewable biofuel into road diesel in 2023 reduced the amount of petrochemical diesel Ireland needed by 2.0%.

Trends in Ireland's Energy Supply

• Ireland's national energy requirement fell by 1.8% in 2023.
• Our national energy requirement remains heavily fossil dependent, with 82.6% of our energy coming from fossil fuels in 2023.
• Over three quarters of Ireland's energy in 2023 came from oil and gas, with 48.8% of Ireland's energy coming from oil for refining, heating, and transport.
• Ireland used 39.9% less coal, 19.0% less peat, and 7.2% less natural gas in 2023 than in 2022, driven by reductions in fossil-fuel generation of electricity, and reduced heating demand.
• Most of Ireland's energy is imported - our import dependency was 79.7% in 2023.
• Ireland imported 77.5% of its natural gas requirement, as well as 100% of its oil and coal needs in 2023.
• Ireland imported 5% less energy in 2023, with a 57.2% drop in imported coal, and 3.5% and 2.8% drops in oil and natural gas, respectively.