The new data released by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) showed that coal use in electricity generation decreased by 70% in 2019, with moneypoint electricity generating stations operating at reduced capacity.
Meanwhile, recent EPA figures show that emissions from Moneypoint fell by almost two-thirds from 1,9 million tons of carbon in 2018 to 681,047 tons in 2019.
The data follow the announcement that there would be 100 job losses at the West Clare power station.
According to the SEAI, CO2 emissions from all energy consumption decreased by 3.9% in 2019, equivalent to 1.5 million tons of CO2. This is the highest annual drop in CO2 emissions since 2011, at the height of the last recession. Emissions were 22 percent below 2005 levels in 2019, but are higher than in 2014 when we emerged from the recession.
The decline in coal-fired electricity was partially due to a 9 per cent rise in wind-generated electricity, which delivered almost one third of all electricity. The remainder of the shortfall was mainly due to increased net electricity imports.
Carbon from all renewable sources rose by 6.5 per cent in 2019, accounting for 11 per cent of all electricity used.
Natural gas usage rose by 2% and accounted for 32% of all energy consumption. Oil use increased by 0.6% and accounted for 50% of all energy use.
Import dependency (the share of energy imported, as opposed to sourced in Ireland) increased to 69%, up from 67% in 2018.
