Demand for gas dropped 3% in the first half of the year when compared with the same period in 2023, new data shows.
The latest report from Gas Networks Ireland reveals that gas was the largest contributor to electricity generation in the first six months of the year.
Gas generated 43% of the country's electricity, compared to 36% generated by wind.
In June specifically, overall gas demand decreased by 17% month-on-month from May and 8% year-on-year compared to June 2023.
Gas was the largest contributor to electricity generation during the month, generating 47%, compared to 28% for wind.
"The figures demonstrate that the role of the gas network in the energy system is changing," said Gas Networks Ireland's Director of Strategy and Regulation, Edwina Nyhan.
"The network is increasingly needed to provide resilience and security of supply as the level of renewables in the wider energy system increase, and our network is critical to ensuring that wind is backed up when it isn’t blowing," she said.
Ms Nyhan said the two energy sources are shown in the report to be complementing each other well.
"Wind’s contribution to the grid peaked at 81% during the first half of 2024 but given the variable nature of weather dependent renewable energy sources, there were also times when the wind supply dropped completely and contributed less than 1% of electricity generation.
"During these times, gas served as an essential back-up," she added.
Today's report shows that demand for gas dropped month on month from May in a number of sectors including education, office, retail and manufacturing.
However, demand increased year on year across sectors including construction, education, leisure and sport, office and hotels.
Demand for CNG increased by around 35% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month.
This is the 18th consecutive month in which a year-on-year increase in CNG demand has been recorded.
"The growth in demand for this cleaner burning fuel has been underscored by significant corporate investments, such as the opening of Ireland's first dedicated BioCNG refuelling self-service station at Flogas’s forecourt in St Margarets in Dublin last month, and Tesco Ireland’s addition of 50 biomethane trucks to its fleet last week," said Ms Nyhan.
