Ireland has made a significant move towards a cleaner energy future by shutting down its only coal-fired power station, Moneypoint. This decision makes Ireland the sixth European country to completely eliminate coal from its electricity mix. The transition away from coal was made possible by the rapid growth of wind energy in the country. At the beginning of the 2000s, wind energy only accounted for 1% of Ireland’s electricity generation. Today, it supplies over a third, or 37%, of the country’s power.
According to Alexandru Mustață, a campaigner on coal and gas at Beyond Fossil Fuels, Ireland has successfully replaced toxic coal with renewable energy. However, he emphasizes the importance of building a power system that is fully equipped to run on clean, domestic renewable electricity. While coal has been phased out, Moneypoint will still burn heavy fuel oil during emergencies until 2029.
The Moneypoint site is now transitioning into a major renewable energy hub. In 2017, a 17 MW onshore wind farm was built at the location, and in 2021, the government announced the Green Atlantic at Moneypoint, a multi-billion-euro renewable energy project. Jerry Mac Evilly, campaigns director at Friends of the Earth Ireland, sees the end of coal burning at Moneypoint as a significant step towards a fossil fuel-free era. He urges the government to minimize the use of oil back-up and eventually decommission it.
Despite the progress in eliminating coal, Ireland’s government plans to build at least 2 gigawatts of new gas power plants without a clear plan to transition away from gas, which currently powers 48% of electricity generation in the country. Mac Evilly stresses the importance of prioritizing battery storage, demand reduction, and renewables to achieve a zero-carbon system that aligns with Ireland’s climate and energy security objectives.
Ireland’s coal exit is part of a larger European trend, with Spain and Italy also on track to shut down their last mainland coal plants. Currently, 15 European countries have gone coal-free, and 10 more have plans to do so in the next five years. This shift towards cleaner energy sources highlights the continent’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change.
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