Diarmaid Gillespie
Director of System Operations, EirGrid
Ireland’s society and economy will be relying more on electricity generated from renewables in the future. How is the power system adapting to support this, and what trends are currently being observed?
Diarmaid Gillespie is Director of System Operations at EirGrid, the organisation responsible for developing, managing and operating Ireland’s electricity grid. He explains how Ireland’s electricity demands are managed by the National Control Centre.
Our changing grid
Our grid will need to carry significantly more renewable energy in the coming years, to support a secure transition to achieving at least 80% renewable electricity, as set out in the Government’s Climate Action Plan, an important step on the journey to net zero by 2050.
In addition to meeting our climate targets, the transition to higher levels of renewable energy allows for greater energy independence and security as well as encouraging continued economic growth.
“Operating a power system with electricity generated predominantly from renewables rather than fossil fuels is complex and technically very challenging,” says Gillespie. “Over the past decade, we have transitioned away from our dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation, adapting to more renewable energy sources like wind and solar and also new technologies like battery energy storage systems.”
To support the renewables transition, EirGrid is leading an unprecedented programme of new grid infrastructure projects, reinforcements and upgrades to ensure that our electricity system is renewable-ready, as detailed in its Shaping Our Electricity Future roadmap.
February was one of our strongest
months on record for renewables.
Increasing electricity demand
Significant growth in electricity demand has been observed in recent years, a trend which is expected to continue. This is influenced by a number of factors, including growth of large energy users and the electrification of heat and transport, as society shifts more to heat pumps in homes and businesses and driving electric cars.
“As you might expect, weather conditions play a key part in dictating the demand for electricity,” notes Gillespie. “On January eighth this year, we recorded a new peak demand for electricity of 6,024 MW (megawatts), due to the nationwide cold snap. This was significant, as it was the first time that peak electricity demand passed the 6,000 MW mark.”
For context, demand first passed the 5,000 MW mark during the extreme cold snap of December 2010, a record which stood for another 10 years before being surpassed in December 2020.“We’ve seen a series of new demand records being set over the last four years, with peak demand rising by almost 900 MW in this space of time,” he adds.
Ensuring there is sufficient generation to meet the increasing demand for electricity in recent years has been challenging. However, that challenge has lessened with new backup generation and further interconnection connecting to the grid in the past 12 months.
The future is renewable
In February, data from EirGrid showed that 54.5% of electricity came from renewable sources with over 48% of that coming from wind energy. “February was one of our strongest months on record for renewables on the grid, including a new peak wind record of 3,884 megawatts,” says Gillespie.
In the past two years, there has been significant progress in integrating solar power onto the grid. During the fine, sunny weather this March, at one point, over 18% of electricity demand was met by grid-connected solar generation, with a new solar record of 750 MW also recorded.
“Solar generation brings new challenges for our control room to manage, including intermittency in solar generation due to passing clouds. To manage this, a balanced portfolio of generation technologies, led by renewables and supported by energy storage is required,” he adds.
“EirGrid will continue to meet the needs of electricity demand growth in Ireland as it manages a complex and evolving supply-demand dynamic. We plan to integrate greater amounts of renewables in the coming years, including from wind and solar, to help progress Ireland’s net zero ambitions.”
