Paying twice for clean power
Electricity customers help fund Ireland’s wind farms, then pay again when the grid cannot take their power. In 2024 the grid turned away 1,266 GWh of wind in Ireland — one unit in ten of what was available. This brief sets out the evidence, a modelled cost, and three options that would let flexible demand use the surplus at no cost to the public.
Wind power turned away, Ireland, 2024
1,266 GWh
10.1% of available wind · reported by EirGrid and SONI
The same energy, mined†
≈ €110M
≈ 1,500 BTC a year, gross, before costs · at €75,800 per BTC on 4 October 2026
Findings
1. One unit in ten of available wind was turned away in 2024, and the share has risen every year since 2021.
Wind dispatch-down in Ireland rose from 752 GWh (7.3%) in 2021 to 1,266 GWh (10.1%) in 2024; preliminary rates put 2025 at about 11.3%. The 2024 report attributes it roughly equally to curtailment (system-wide limits) and constraint (local network limits).
2. What it costs is not published. We estimate €28M–€84M for 2024.
Constrained generators with firm access are generally compensated; curtailment is largely unpaid for newer generators. Applying assumed rates to the reported volume and split gives a central estimate of ≈ €55M — equivalent to ≈ €30 for each of Ireland's 1,841,152 households. The figure is modelled, and publishing the real one would settle it.
3. Flexible demand could use the surplus, but the terms decide whether it pays.
A Bitcoin-mining fleet sized to absorb the 2024 surplus would earn ≈ €110M a year before costs. Because the surplus comes in bursts, the fleet would run about 23% of the year; on our central assumptions its costs exceed that revenue, and it breaks even at ≈ €110K per BTC. Clear connection terms, hourly data and lower costs behind the meter change that — at no cost to the public.
Options
A
Publish dispatch-down data by node and hour.
Annual totals hide where and when the surplus occurs. Hourly data by grid location would let any flexible load — batteries, electrolysers, heat, mining — be sited where it helps, and let the public check what dispatch-down costs.
B
Define interruptible flexible demand in connection policy.
A connection category for demand that runs only when the system has surplus and stops on instruction, with faster connection in return. Loads that cannot meet the terms do not qualify.
C
Pilot co-location at a constrained renewable site.
A time-limited, privately funded pilot behind the meter at a wind farm with high constraint, publishing hours run, energy used, response times and the effect on compensation.
Sources
- EirGrid & SONI, Annual Renewable Energy Constraint and Curtailment Reports 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. cms.eirgrid.ie/taxonomy/term/27
- Preliminary 2025 wind dispatch-down rates for Ireland (11.3% of available wind: constraint 6.6%, curtailment 4.7%), as reported by Climate Jargon Buster; volume estimated by Irish Grid pending the official 2025 report. https://climatejargonbuster.ie/kb/curtailment/
- CSO, Census of Population 2022, Profile 3 — Households, Families and Childcare. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpp3/censusofpopulation2022profile3-householdsfamiliesandchildcare/keyfindings/
- BTC price: CoinGecko; network hashrate: mempool.space; both as at 4 October 2026. Mining revenue excludes transaction fees.
- Cost and mining models: Irish Grid method version 1.1 · October 2026, https://irishgrid.com/methodology. Modelled figures are marked ≈ and rounded to two significant figures.
Irish Grid is an independent, non-partisan research and advocacy site. It has no connection to EirGrid or SONI. Bitcoin figures are illustrative and not financial advice. https://irishgrid.com/briefs/1