Gas use for power generation up but Covid impact lingers
Wind power generated 43% of total monthly electricity demand last month, while coal generated 7% of electricity in the month.
Gas demand for power generation was up 8.7% year-on-year in December, but the impact of Covid-19 is still weighing heavily on some sectors of the economy, according to new figures released by Gas Networks Ireland (GNI).
Gas supplied up to 70% of electricity demand at times in December and never dropped below 29%, meeting 47% of total electricity demand for the month.
Wind power generated 43% of total monthly electricity demand, while coal generated 7% of electricity in the month.
GNI said Christmas Day provided an important illustration of the interconnected roles that gas and wind play in powering the country.
Gas started the day at c. 67% of the electricity generation mix and fell to a low of 29% approaching midnight with wind swinging from a low of 5% to a high of c. 65% in the same period.
The figures also reveal the havoc Covid-19 continues to cause for some sectors of the economy, with gas demand from laundry (-44%), hotel (-42%), leisure (-36%), travel (-24%), retail (-16%) and the construction (-8%) sectors all well down on equivalent trends in December 2019.
However, the gas supplier noted that all bar construction were up on November figures.
Gas demand from manufacturing finished the year strongly, up 16% on November and 13.7% on 2019, while demand from health-related customers continued to perform strongly, with medical device (+15%) and pharmaceutical (+5%) production both ahead of December 2019 gas usage.
Demand for gas from the food and beverage industry remained ahead of the December 2019, however as is the annual norm, demand from this sector in the month was substantially lower than in November.
Gas Networks Ireland’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, Brian Mullins, said higher usage in certain sectors such as power generation more than offset the sectors where gas demand reduced.
“Gas played a key role in meeting Ireland’s increasing electricity requirements in the run up to the Christmas period, with gas providing up to 70% of power generation at times during December,” he said.
