As the sun shone brightly, at midday on Friday Ireland’s solar sector broke records, generating 1GW of energy for the first time.
All that sunshine in recent days is not just good for the national morale. According to Solar Ireland, at 12pm on Friday (24 April), Ireland’s solar sector generated 1GW of energy for the first time ever, bringing further into focus the importance of electricity storage technology.
According to Solar Ireland, if we take average daytime demand in Ireland, the solar energy generated at lunchtime on Friday was “sufficient to power the equivalent of all homes across the country”, and with more great weather forecast this week, they expect further records to be broken.
While photovoltaic solar arrays rely on daylight rather than just sunshine, this remarkably sunny weather certainly gives the sector a shot in the arm. As the ongoing fuel crisis hits home, and with Ireland’s ambitious target of generating 22GW from renewables by 2030, solar is growing in significance in this country.
On Friday, solar output peaked at 1,074MW, said Solar Ireland, within a total national generation of 3,124MW, alongside 523MW of imports via the Greenlink interconnector. At midday, solar delivered 34.4pc of electricity generation in the Republic of Ireland.
