The renewables story in Ireland has largely been about wind energy. However, since the first utility-scale solar farm was connected in April 2022, there has been impressive growths in solar capacity and generation. At the end of Q2 2023, there is 634.5MW of utility-scale solar in Ireland. The first 6 months of 2023 alone saw more than 400MW of solar capacity connected to the grid.

Solar capacity in Ireland as of Q2 2023.
Source: Green Collective; EirGrid; ESB Networks

The now substantial solar capacity certainly performed during summer months. Peak solar output reached 415.6MW on 28 July at 11:15am, meeting 8.9% of demand then. This is impressive, considering July was wet and windy, which is unusual for the month even in Ireland. The 3 charts below show the range of solar generation throughout the day for each summer month: June, July, and August.

Solar generation in Ireland in June, July, and August.
Source: Green Collective; EirGrid

In addition to aggregated generation data, we have also been able to track down plant-level output of 11 plants that make up 83% of total solar capacity. To gain a holistic view of electricity generation in Ireland, plant-level wind and fossil fuels generation has also been plotted below, alongside solar. Each bubble on the 4 maps below represents the size of generation for that date, and data points shown on the maps are in GWh. Scroll down and you will see, from 26 to 29 July, when wind and solar generation increase, grey bubbles, representing mostly gas, either shrink in size or disappear altogether.

Plant-level generation 26-29 July 2023 (GWh)
Source: Green Collective; SEMO