EirGrid has confirmed that Ireland's grid-scale solar energy output for 2024 was exceeded five months early, with a new record set by the end of July.

A total of 753 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of solar energy had already been delivered to the grid, compared with 659 GWh across the whole of 2024.

The achievement reflects significant progress in the construction and connection of large-scale solar projects to the national grid. EirGrid's National Control Centre manages the integration of this energy alongside conventional generation and other renewable sources, such as wind, ensuring a stable electricity supply.

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The summer months also brought a series of peak output records for solar. The highest was 798 Megawatts (MW), reached at 3pm on Wednesday, July 9. MW values indicate moment-in-time demand, while GWh measures usage over longer periods.

Provisional figures for August show that 35% of electricity came from renewables. Of this, wind supplied 27% and solar 5%. Gas remained the largest contributor at 45%, with 19% of electricity imported. Total system demand for August was 2,704 GWh, a slight decrease from July.

Commenting on the figures, Diarmaid Gillespie, Director of System Operations at EirGrid, said: "While the overall percentage for solar power remains relatively small compared to some other sources of generation, its strong growth has marked an evolution in Ireland's fuel mix. This has been driven by progress in connecting large-scale solar energy to the national electricity grid in recent years."

The data is based on 15-minute SCADA readings, covering Ireland only. Figures are provisional and exclude rooftop solar installations.