Eclipse makes its mark on Ireland’s Solar Generation

Ireland’s solar community got a front row seat to yesterday’s solar eclipse, as the event played out not only in the sky but in generation curves on rooftops and across Ireland’s grid-scale solar.

Solar Ireland had encouraged households and businesses to become ‘citizen scientists’ for the evening by opening their solar monitoring apps and watching for the distinctive dip and recovery in their own generation curves.

The effect was also clearly visible at grid scale. Data from EirGrid shows that Ireland had already recorded a strong day for solar, with grid-scale generation reaching 1,090 MW at 1.45pm, ahead of the forecast peak of 1,038 MW.

At 6.15pm, as the Moon began to move across the Sun, grid-scale solar was generating 532 MW. By 6.45pm, this had fallen to 202 MW, reaching just 8 MW thirty minutes later around the height of the eclipse.

As the Moon began to move away from the Sun, generation climbed again, reaching 51 MW at 7.30pm and 83 MW at 7.45pm, despite Ireland moving further into the evening.

Solar owners also shared their own generation curves with Solar Ireland, showing the eclipse appearing on household monitoring apps.

Ronan Power, CEO of Solar Ireland, said: “Yesterday we asked people to look up at the sky, but also to look at their solar apps, and it was brilliant to see people doing exactly that. What was happening on individual rooftops was also playing out across Ireland’s grid-scale solar. Around the height of the eclipse, generation had fallen to just 8 MW before starting to climb again as the Moon moved away. You could actually see the eclipse in Ireland’s solar generation curve, which is quite remarkable.

“It had already been a fantastic day for solar, reaching 1,090 MW during the afternoon, ahead of the forecast peak. But my favourite part was seeing people around the country checking their own apps and sharing what happened on their rooftops. That’s exactly what we hoped for with our citizen scientists: a bit of fun, but also a very real connection to Ireland’s growing solar story.”

Solar Ireland had encouraged solar owners to take screenshots of their generation before, during and after the eclipse and share their curves and locations on social media.

The association said the event offered a unique way to demonstrate how solar responds to changing daylight, while also highlighting how widespread solar generation has become across Irish homes, farms and businesses.

Mr Power added: “Solar is now something people can see working on their own roof, track on their phone and, on a day like yesterday, watch and respond to something happening in the sky above them. The eclipse only lasted a couple of hours, but it gave us a lovely snapshot of the much bigger solar community that has developed across Ireland.”

Solar Ireland stressed that the 8 MW recorded around the height of the eclipse should not be compared directly with the afternoon peak as a measure of electricity ‘lost’ to the event. Solar generation naturally declines towards the evening, while weather conditions also influence output.

The eclipse was a highly predictable event and electricity system operators had been preparing in advance for the temporary change in solar generation.