Ireland’s early summer heatwave is boosting solar power generation but much of the power generated by natural resources is a risk of draining away because of inefficient systems, an industry group claims. Solar Ireland said the sun delivered as much as one-third of Ireland’s energy needs on Monday afternoon. However, it added that “too much clean, renewable energy is being wasted” because the national grid and related infrastructure is “not keeping pace with record levels of generation [and] limiting the full benefits solar can deliver for consumers, energy security and affordability”.According to the umbrella group for the solar industry, a third of the electricity needed to power Ireland was being generated by the sun at 1:30pm on Monday. Solar farms reported similarly high figures on Sunday afternoon, with the spike seeing the sun providing almost the same amount of power as imported gas.Ronan Power, of Solar Ireland, said it had been a “fantastic week” for solar energy in Ireland, adding that it highlighted “just how quickly the sector is growing and contributing to our energy system”.The State’s first utility-scale solar farm was connected to the grid only in 2022, and “already we are seeing solar provide a significant share of electricity demand”, Power said. He suggested the surge in energy coming from the sky “also highlights an increasingly important challenge” with “parts of the system struggling to absorb all the clean, renewable energy available”.According to Power, companies capable of generating solar energy at scale “sometimes have to turn off renewable generation because the system is not always capable of handling all the clean energy being produced”. He pointed out that while the grid “remains a critical part of the solution”, there are other challenges facing the sector. “We need to look at the challenge with fresh eyes and focus on system optimisation, using the technology already available and the strong public support behind the energy transition.”He welcomed a commitment to enhanced grid investment from the Government but said the priority should be the acceleration of delivery “and ensuring grid infrastructure, system services and operational measures keep pace with renewable deployment”.While the sun was the big provider of renewable energy for much of the week so far, last month another renewable, wind, was doing the heavy lifting, accounting for 38 per cent of all electricity generated in Ireland in April, making it the biggest contributor to Ireland’s fuel mix, according to data from EirGrid.Its recent figures show that, overall, 48 per cent of electricity came from renewable sources in April, with 6 per cent of that generated by large grid-scale solar farms.It was the third consecutive month where renewable generation met around half of electricity demand. EirGrid said: “Significant progress continues to be made” in integrating renewables on to Ireland’s power system.It noted that investments it has made have enabled up to 75 per cent of electricity to be generated from variable renewable sources at any one time. EirGrid said it has a “significant work programme” under way to increase this to 95 per cent.