Ireland wasted a record amount of wind in 2024 — here’s what it cost

In 2024, the share of available wind energy dispatched down across the island of Ireland reached 14.0% — up from 10.7% in 2023 and 8.5% in 2022. In the Republic alone, 1,266 GWh of wind was thrown away.

Dispatch-down happens for two reasons. Curtailment is system-wide: there is more renewable generation than the grid can safely carry at once, bounded by the System Non-Synchronous Penetration (SNSP) limit. Constraint is local: the transmission network in a given area cannot move the power to where it is needed.

Either way, the result is the same — clean electricity that was generated but never used, replaced by burning gas. That pushes up both wholesale prices and emissions, and the cost lands on billpayers.

The uncomfortable truth is that this problem grows with success: the more wind we build, the more we curtail, unless the grid, storage and flexible demand keep pace.