Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year Ending June 2026
Date published:
A report detailing the percentage of electricity consumption generated from renewable sources was published today.
The ‘Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year ending June 2026’ report details the contribution of electricity generated from renewable sources. The report aids reporting on performance against the commitments in the Energy Strategy ‘Path to Net Zero Energy’ and the Climate Change Act target which is to “ensure that at least 80% of electricity consumption is from renewable sources by 2030.”
Following data development and improvement work, the measurement and reporting of Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation has now moved to a Gross Final Electricity Consumption approach.
Main results:
For the 12-month period July 2025 to June 2026:
- The volume of electricity generated from renewable sources in the year to June 2026 (4,431 GWh) was equivalent to 50% of gross final electricity consumption (8,865 GWh), compared to 44% in the previous period (year to June 2025), matching the highest level previously recorded in the series in late 2022/early 2023 (50%).
- Gross Final Electricity Consumption, which comprises generation plus imports minus exports, and is equivalent to total electricity demand, has fallen slowly but steadily over the period from 9,569 GWh at the year to December 2018 to 8,865 GWh in the year to June 2026.
- Focusing specifically on generation, 8,286 GWh of total electricity was generated, of which 4,431 GWh was from renewable sources (53%) and 3,855 GWh (47%) was from non-renewable sources. On the rolling 12-month basis, renewable generation has exceeded non-renewable generation since January 2026, which is a change from the rest of the time series (back to 2018) where non-renewable generation was higher than renewable generation.
- Of the 4,431 GWh of renewable generation, the majority (74%) was from wind in addition to bioenergy (18%), solar (6%), landfill gas (1%) and hydro/tidal generation (1%).
- The balance between electricity imports and exports can vary over time and the difference between them can be positive (more imports than exports) or negative (more exports than imports). In the year to June 2026, Northern Ireland imported more than it exported with net imports of 578 GWh. This can be compared to the year to June 2025 when Northern Ireland imported more than it exported with net imports of 172 GWh.
The full report is available at: https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/articles/electricity-consumption-and-renewable-generation-statistics
Notes to editors:
Notes to editors:
- The ‘Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year ending June 2026’ report details the contribution of electricity generated from renewable sources. The report aids reporting on performance against the commitments in the Energy Strategy ‘Path to Net Zero Energy’ and the Climate Change Act target which is to “ensure that at least 80% of electricity consumption is from renewable sources by 2030.”
- Following data development and improvement work, the measurement and reporting of Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation has now moved to a Gross Final Electricity Consumption approach. This is the third quarterly statistical publication reporting the new Gross Final Electricity Consumption measure, following the first publication of data on this basis released in March 2026. The statistical publication provides historic trend data back to 2018 using this approach. Further details on these developments including a user engagement paper and a user engagement report which informed these developments are available here.
- General information on the report can be obtained from Matthew Hanna, DfE Analytical Services by email at energystatistics@economy-ni.gov.uk or by telephone on 028 9052 9339.
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