Third best July on record for Irish wind farms thanks to Cork and Kerry

BreakingNews.ie

3 days ago

Wind generation in Ireland was the third highest on record for a July month, according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), which published its monthly wind energy report on Tuesday.
The latest figures show that wind power generation in July 2025 totalled 786 gigawatt-hours, with Cork wind farms knocking Kerry's off the top spot for the first time since the beginning of this year.
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Cork produced 85 GWh and was closely followed by Kerry (84 GWh), Offaly (54 GWh), Galway (53 GWh) and Mayo (51 GWh). Together, the top three counties provided more than a quarter of Ireland's wind power last month.
Wind farms provided 24 per cent of the country's electricity last month, but wholesale electricity prices rose slightly after several months of sustained falls.
Director of external affairs at Wind Energy Ireland, Justin Moran, said: 'Electricity generated by Irish wind farms replaces imported fossil fuels and pushes down wholesale electricity prices.
'The more wind we can get on the system, the less we have to rely on expensive imported gas, and the more we can do to help bring down the cost of energy bills."
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Moran said wind farms like those in Cork and Kerry are "playing an important part in reducing our dependency on imported fossil fuels and boosting Ireland's energy security".
Share of demand and electricity prices
The share of electricity demand met by Irish wind farms in July, at 24 per cent, was up slightly when compared to July 2024.
Moran added: 'Wind energy generated around a quarter of Ireland's electricity last month but we need to build more wind farms and strengthen our electricity grid to provide more clean energy.
'Every year we are losing more and more of Ireland's most affordable renewable electricity because our existing grid is not strong enough to take the power our wind farms produce.
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'The additional €3.5 billion for grid development announced in the revised National Development Plan will help transform our electricity system and speed up the delivery of clean and affordable power to Irish homes and businesses.'
The average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland per megawatt-hour during July 2025 was €99.61, down ten per cent from €110.94 during the same month last year.
Prices on days with the most wind power saw the average cost of a megawatt-hour of electricity fall to €84.80 per megawatt hour and rise to €111.55 on days when we relied almost entirely on fossil fuels.
Moran said: 'Having an affordable, accessible and reliable source of clean energy is vital for consumers to have confidence in our transition to a zero-carbon society.
'Research published in 2025 shows that since 2000, renewable electricity has – conservatively – saved consumers nearly €1 billion and that figure will keep rising.'