Solar power overtook coal for the first time in Europe in 2024, reaching 11% of total electricity generation in the EU block last year, compared with coal’s 10%.

Last year the EU generated 304 TWh of electricity from solar power, an increase of 22% compared with 2023. This marked the first time solar overtook coal, which produced 269 TWh of electricity in the EU last year. 

Solar power has been steadily climbing for the past decade in Europe, and began skyrocketing from 2020 onwards as the cost of solar began to fall dramatically.

Ireland has been slower than much of continental Europe to adopt solar power, but the figures for this year look promising.

In Ireland, solar power accounted for 1.9% of all electricity generated in 2023, the most recent year for which full annual figures are available. This is lower than 3.5% generated by coal in the same year.

The SEAI’s Energy in Ireland 2024 report shows that in 2023 Ireland generated 0.65 TWh of solar PV, up 335% on 2022 levels. This rapid increase is credited to many utility scale solar farms opening.

“In just one year, electricity generation from these large-scale solar farms exceeded that from all rooftop solar generation. In 2023, just under two-thirds of all solar PV generation in Ireland came from solar farms.”

The reports estimate that for 2024 Ireland could have generated more than 1 TWh of solar electricity, with roughly three quarters of that coming from utility scale solar farms.

“Although not yet certain, it is likely that Ireland will generate more electricity from solar PV than from coal in 2024 for the first time.”

Monthly figures from Eirgrid show that grid-scale solar power reached a peak of 2.7% of all electricity generation in May 2024, delivering a total 71,731 MWh of electricity.

These figures, however, do not account for microgeneration where solar power also expanded significantly in 2024.

Ireland has set a goal of having 8GW of solar capacity installed by 2030 under the Climate Action Plan. The plan aims to have 80% of all electricity generated from renewables such as solar and wind by the end of the decade.