3 ms·

Just in time for an energy crisis :-)

by cbdevidal 7mo ago

rt56a 7mo ago
[dead]
philipwhiuk 7mo ago
Maybe the difference is made up by renewables and not oil?
- rithdmc 7mo ago
  Natural gas is still the leader by a good margin.
  - otherme123 7mo ago
    Leading is not the same as replacing. See this figure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Ireland#/media/File:Energy_mix_of_Ireland.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Ireland#/media/File:... In 2000, coal was about 20% of the energy mix, gas another 20%, oil about 50%. Wind was 0%. In 2024 coal was about 2%, gas still 20%, oil still 50%, but wind grew to about 15%. It seems that wind actually replaced coal. It is not only logical, but good, that wind first replaced coal (dirtiest), and maybe from now on is will start to replace oil. Only after many decades, or maybe never, gas will be replaced.
    - rithdmc 7mo ago
      I'm not sure where that data comes from. Oil was only around 3% in 2024. https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electricity https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electr...
      - messe 7mo ago
        Presumably it's also counting non-electricity energy generation. Road and rail transport still relies heavily on internal combustion engines.
      - jerven 7mo ago
        Primary energy compared to electricity as energy. The first adds energy used in driving, chemical industry etc. the second is just the amount of electricity generated.
        rithdmc 7mo ago
        Got it, thanks. So, not for grid electricity, as in this discussion.
        otherme123 7mo ago
        Still, in the second figure of your link, you can see how gas is more or less stable since the start in 2005, and coal + peat is being slowly replaced almost 1:1 by renewables, mainly wind as hydro is stable and solar is marginal in Ireland.
        rithdmc 7mo ago
        I don't see how that matters to ops comment, "Just in time for an energy crisis", implying a shift to oil from coal.
      - adgjlsfhk1 7mo ago
        energy vs electricity. oil is a much bigger part of the energy mix due to chemical manufacturing
  - einr 7mo ago
    No, it's not? https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/energy-2025 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/e... crude oil and petroleum products (37.7%) natural gas (20.4%) renewable energy (19.5%) solid fuels (10.6%) nuclear energy (11.8%) (2023 numbers) So natural gas was just barely more than renewables in 2023, but according to the source below the line was crossed in 2025 and renewables now provide more than all fossil fuels put together: https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/wind-and-solar-overtook-fossil-fuels-across-europe-in-2025/ https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/wind-and-solar-overtook-fossi...
    - rithdmc 7mo ago
      For those following along at home, it appears enir is (edit: as well as using EU wide data, not Irish data..) including non-electricity generation, or non-grid, energy use. Grid stats available here https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electricity https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electr... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308462 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308462
      - einr 7mo ago
        Yeah, I think I was a little confused by the context of another thread and did not realize this one was about Ireland specifically.
- trollbridge 7mo ago
  It isn’t.
  - talideon 7mo ago
    Oil stayed more or less steady, so yes, it did.
  - rsynnott 7mo ago
    Ireland has essentially no working oil power generation capacity these days (I think the only ones are a couple of small diesel units on islands, which are not even connected to the national grid). Moneypoint was replaced with some combo of wind, gas and imports. (Moneypoint was actually built originally due to Ireland's over dependence at the time on oil for power generation; after the oil crisis, initially ESB attempted to build a nuclear plant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnsore_Point#Cancelled_nuclear_project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnsore_Point#Cancelled_nucle...), but it was such a political minefield that it was canceled, leading to Moneypoint.)
    - trollbridge 7mo ago
      To be clear, I was talking about natural gas power generation, not oil.
- rozab 7mo ago
  Not sure what the downvotes are about, that looks to be exactly what happened. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?time=1999..latest&country=~IRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou...
rwmj 7mo ago
They'd be better off with (and are building out) offshore and onshore wind. If you've ever been to the west coast of Ireland you'll know they've got almost unlimited wind energy. The country is targeting 5GW of capacity by 2030 and 37GW in the distant future[1]. If only they could harness the power of rain, Ireland would truly be an energy superpower. [1] https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2025/10/30/winds-of-change-reviving-irelands-stalled-offshore-energy-industry/ https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2025/10/30/winds-...
- Gravityloss 7mo ago
  Are they selling to UK that AFAIU stopped building wind 10 years ago. Regulatory advantage...
  - hvb2 7mo ago
    Uh? No they didn't stop at all? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingd...
    - citrin_ru 7mo ago
      Tories during 2015-2023 made construction of new onshore wind farms all but impossible (removed subsidies and made planning permissions very difficult). I would assume Labor could reverse these polices but haven't seen anything in news about this.
      - amiga386 7mo ago
        Now you have: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/08/labour-lifts-ban-onshore-windfarms-planning-policy https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/08/... (2024) Also https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/14/offshore-windfarm-contracts-to-fuel-homes-great-britain-record-auction https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/14/offshore... Also https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/10/uk-onshore-windfarm-new-green-energy-projects-contracts https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/10/uk-onshore-...

Just in time for an energy crisis :-)

rt56a 7mo ago

[dead]

philipwhiuk 7mo ago

Maybe the difference is made up by renewables and not oil?

rithdmc 7mo ago
Natural gas is still the leader by a good margin.
- otherme123 7mo ago
  Leading is not the same as replacing. See this figure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Ireland#/media/File:Energy_mix_of_Ireland.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Ireland#/media/File:... In 2000, coal was about 20% of the energy mix, gas another 20%, oil about 50%. Wind was 0%. In 2024 coal was about 2%, gas still 20%, oil still 50%, but wind grew to about 15%. It seems that wind actually replaced coal. It is not only logical, but good, that wind first replaced coal (dirtiest), and maybe from now on is will start to replace oil. Only after many decades, or maybe never, gas will be replaced.
  - rithdmc 7mo ago
    I'm not sure where that data comes from. Oil was only around 3% in 2024. https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electricity https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electr...
    - messe 7mo ago
      Presumably it's also counting non-electricity energy generation. Road and rail transport still relies heavily on internal combustion engines.
    - jerven 7mo ago
      Primary energy compared to electricity as energy. The first adds energy used in driving, chemical industry etc. the second is just the amount of electricity generated.
      - rithdmc 7mo ago
        Got it, thanks. So, not for grid electricity, as in this discussion.
        otherme123 7mo ago
        Still, in the second figure of your link, you can see how gas is more or less stable since the start in 2005, and coal + peat is being slowly replaced almost 1:1 by renewables, mainly wind as hydro is stable and solar is marginal in Ireland.
        rithdmc 7mo ago
        I don't see how that matters to ops comment, "Just in time for an energy crisis", implying a shift to oil from coal.
    - adgjlsfhk1 7mo ago
      energy vs electricity. oil is a much bigger part of the energy mix due to chemical manufacturing
- einr 7mo ago
  No, it's not? https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/energy-2025 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/e... crude oil and petroleum products (37.7%) natural gas (20.4%) renewable energy (19.5%) solid fuels (10.6%) nuclear energy (11.8%) (2023 numbers) So natural gas was just barely more than renewables in 2023, but according to the source below the line was crossed in 2025 and renewables now provide more than all fossil fuels put together: https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/wind-and-solar-overtook-fossil-fuels-across-europe-in-2025/ https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/wind-and-solar-overtook-fossi...
  - rithdmc 7mo ago
    For those following along at home, it appears enir is (edit: as well as using EU wide data, not Irish data..) including non-electricity generation, or non-grid, energy use. Grid stats available here https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electricity https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/electr... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308462 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308462
    - einr 7mo ago
      Yeah, I think I was a little confused by the context of another thread and did not realize this one was about Ireland specifically.
trollbridge 7mo ago
It isn’t.
- talideon 7mo ago
  Oil stayed more or less steady, so yes, it did.
- rsynnott 7mo ago
  Ireland has essentially no working oil power generation capacity these days (I think the only ones are a couple of small diesel units on islands, which are not even connected to the national grid). Moneypoint was replaced with some combo of wind, gas and imports. (Moneypoint was actually built originally due to Ireland's over dependence at the time on oil for power generation; after the oil crisis, initially ESB attempted to build a nuclear plant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnsore_Point#Cancelled_nuclear_project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnsore_Point#Cancelled_nucle...), but it was such a political minefield that it was canceled, leading to Moneypoint.)
  - trollbridge 7mo ago
    To be clear, I was talking about natural gas power generation, not oil.
rozab 7mo ago
Not sure what the downvotes are about, that looks to be exactly what happened. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?time=1999..latest&country=~IRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou...

rwmj 7mo ago

They'd be better off with (and are building out) offshore and onshore wind. If you've ever been to the west coast of Ireland you'll know they've got almost unlimited wind energy. The country is targeting 5GW of capacity by 2030 and 37GW in the distant future[1]. If only they could harness the power of rain, Ireland would truly be an energy superpower. [1] https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2025/10/30/winds-of-change-reviving-irelands-stalled-offshore-energy-industry/ https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2025/10/30/winds-...

Gravityloss 7mo ago
Are they selling to UK that AFAIU stopped building wind 10 years ago. Regulatory advantage...
- hvb2 7mo ago
  Uh? No they didn't stop at all? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingd...
  - citrin_ru 7mo ago
    Tories during 2015-2023 made construction of new onshore wind farms all but impossible (removed subsidies and made planning permissions very difficult). I would assume Labor could reverse these polices but haven't seen anything in news about this.
    - amiga386 7mo ago
      Now you have: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/08/labour-lifts-ban-onshore-windfarms-planning-policy https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/08/... (2024) Also https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/14/offshore-windfarm-contracts-to-fuel-homes-great-britain-record-auction https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/14/offshore... Also https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/10/uk-onshore-windfarm-new-green-energy-projects-contracts https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/10/uk-onshore-...