Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year Ending March 2026
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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 March 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:
- The volume of electricity generated from renewable sources in the year to March 2026 (4,264 GWh) was equivalent to 48% of gross final electricity consumption (8,818 GWh), compared to 44% in the previous period (year to March 2025).
- 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 in the year to December 2018 to 8,818 GWh in the year to March 2026.
- Focusing specifically on generation, 8,202 GWh of total electricity was generated, of which 4,264 GWh was from renewable sources (52%) and 3,938 GWh (48%) was from non-renewable sources.
- Of the 4,264 GWh of electricity generated from renewable sources, the majority (73%) was from wind, in addition to bioenergy (19%), solar PV (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 March 2026, Northern Ireland imported more than it exported with net imports of 616 GWh. This can be compared to the year to March 2025 when Northern Ireland imported more than it exported with net imports of 90 GWh.
The full report is available at: Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation Statistics
Notes to editors:
- The ‘Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year ending March 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 second quarterly statistical publication reporting the new Gross Final Electricity Consumption measure, following the first publication of data on this basis released in March 2026. Further details on these developments including a user engagement paper and a user engagement report which informed these developments are available here.
- In brief, the main developments and improvements include:
- more complete coverage of electricity generation with the inclusion of own use generation both renewable and non-renewable;
- the move to a Gross Final Electricity Consumption statistical measure which includes and appropriately treats both electricity import and export data and which addresses measurement issues around losses of electricity;
- the development of a data framework which more comprehensively reflects electricity generation, distribution and use and provides a more effective foundation for responding to future evidential needs; and
- improvement in the comparability of data to that available elsewhere.
- Given the development work undertaken and the improvement in coverage, no direct comparisons can be made of these figures with those published prior to March 2026. Historic trend data to 2018 using the improved data and measurement is available within the new report for comparisons over time.
- While the new headline figures are not dissimilar to those produced by the previous measure, a more noticeable change can be seen with figures for the technology shares of renewable generation. This is due to the addition of figures for own use generation. Renewable bioenergy (biomass and biogas), solar PV, and hydro generators use more of their generation for their own use which can be in excess of 50% compared to wind generators who use a small percentage of their generation for their own use (around 5%). With the new measure, the volume of renewable generation increases overall and slightly alters the shares of renewable generation by technology to a more diverse picture than that reported previously when not including own use generation.
- 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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