A total of 42 per cent of electricity in Ireland came from renewables in 2023, according to EirGrid’s annual report for 2023.

The EirGrid Group is responsible for operating, developing and enhancing the electricity grid in Ireland.

Group profit before tax was €71.2 million, down from €114.9 million in 2022 due to regulatory timing differences and higher operating costs reflecting the increasing scale and complexity of the business.

Excluding the impact of over and under recoveries on reported profit, management’s estimate of the underlying profit for 2023 was €40.6 million, up from €26.3 million in 2022.

They said related over-recovery will be returned to Transmission Use of System (TUoS) customers through a reduction in tariffs in future years.

The company is proposing to pay a dividend of €4 million to the Government, unchanged from last year.

There was a new maximum peak of demand in Ireland of 5,544MW, followed by a new capacity energised onto the system: 300MW solar; 150MW wind and 75MW batteries.

The ability to operate the system with more renewables on the system at the same time is called the System Non-Synchronous Penetration or ‘SNSP’ limit.

That limit was increased to 75 per cent, with 512 hours of system operation above 70 per cent SNSP over this period.

Other key points from the report were the announcement of the first Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction run on behalf of the Government, as well as technical and financial agreements signed for the delivery of the Celtic Interconnector in November 2022.

Speaking about the report, the chair of EirGrid Group, Brendan Tuohy said: “EirGrid continues to deal with the dual challenge of decarbonising the electricity system to meet the Government’s targets for 2030 and beyond, whilst at the same time ensuring security of supply.

“I am pleased to report that we had a very successful year, operating the electricity system safely and securely, despite challenging circumstances, whilst also progressing key elements of our EirGrid Strategy (2020-2025) to support meeting the Government’s climate ambitions.”