The Energy in Northern Ireland report is published by Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency statisticians within the Department for the Economy’s Analytical Services Division (ASD). Published biennially, the Energy in Northern Ireland report aims to provide a comprehensive and accessible overview of key statistics and information relating to energy in Northern Ireland. The report endeavours to present a disparate range of existing and emerging information and statistics into a single coherent source.
These are key highlights from the chapter on renewable generation of electricity:
Northern Ireland has had a number of renewable generation of electricity targets in recent years. The Climate Change Act in 2022 states that “The Department for the Economy must ensure that at least 80% of electricity consumption is from renewable sources by 2030”.
In 2026, the measurement of this target moved to calculating and reporting renewable generation of electricity (both metered and own-use) as a proportion of gross final electricity consumption (all metered and own-use renewable and non-renewable generation plus imports of electricity minus exports of electricity).
The annual proportion of renewable generation of electricity as a percentage of gross final electricity consumption in Northern Ireland increased from 41% in 2018 to a peak in 2022 of 50% before falling to 47% in 2025. For 2024, the most recent year data is available to make comparison, the EU27 average was 48% compared to Northern Ireland at 44%.
Wind remains the dominant source of renewable generation of electricity in Northern Ireland accounting for 72% of total renewable generation volumes in 2025. Such reliance on wind does mean that monthly renewable generation volumes in Northern Ireland can be prone to large fluctuations, due to changing weather conditions.
Around two thirds of renewable generation capacity and generation volumes was accounted for by three of the eleven Northern Ireland district council areas namely: Causeway Coast & Glens; Derry City & Strabane; and Fermanagh & Omagh.
In terms of the fuel type used for electricity generation, and comparing with the latest available data for the UK, in Northern Ireland in 2024 gas (54.5%) accounted for a higher share than renewables (44.1%). Northern Ireland’s proportion of electricity generated from gas was similar to Wales (58.2%), higher than England (32.6%), but significantly higher than in Scotland (5.7%).
In terms of the percentage of total indigenous generation accounted for by indigenous renewable generation, Northern Ireland had the second lowest proportion (44.1%) of all four UK regions in 2024 using this measure, higher than Wales (33.5%) but lower than England (46.8%) and Scotland (73.1%) with the UK average at 50.4%.
Access the report here