June sunshine produces record amount of solar energy

According to new provisional data from EirGrid, the month of June saw a record amount of solar energy on the power system, contributing 8.2% to the overall fuel mix. This compares to 7.8% in May and to 5.3% in June 2025.

The new figures show that overall, 42% of electricity came from renewable sources in June.

Contributing 30.7% of the overall fuel mix, wind energy made up a significant proportion of renewable energy for the month. Total generation of wind amounted to 821 GWh (Gigawatt hours).

Elsewhere in June, gas generation accounted for 40% of all electricity used and 17% was imported via interconnection.

The overall electricity system demand stood at 2,676 GWh in June, compared to 2,794 GWh in May.

As EirGrid balances supply and demand every minute of the day, it is also planning for Ireland’s long-term electricity needs.

EirGrid has recently published its new Corporate Strategy for the next five years. One of the Strategy’s four key pillars is ‘Transforming for Clean Energy’, which aims to enable much higher levels of renewable electricity, clean technologies and a more flexible power system.

As part of this, EirGrid is aiming to enable the power system to be capable of operating with up to 95% renewable sources at any one time by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Currently, up to 75% of electricity can be generated from renewables at any one time.

Charlie McGee, EirGrid’s System Operational Manager, said:

“June was yet another record month for the amount of solar energy powering the electricity system in Ireland.

“While this might have been expected given the sunny weather that we saw during the month, it is also reflective of the progress that we have made in integrating large grid-scale solar farms onto the system. It follows a number of other solar-related records so far this year, including reaching a peak of over 1 GW of electricity provided by grid-scale solar power.”