Wind energy: Kerry and Cork top Ireland's wind power league table

Galway, Donegal, and Mayo are Ireland’s windiest counties — but the South West tops Ireland's wind energy generation league table

Storm clouds rolling in over Fountainstown Co Cork in May. Despite not being in the premier league of Ireland's windiest counties, Kerry and Cork are Ireland's biggest wind energy contributors. Picture Chani Anderson

It may not have the largest installed wind energy capacity, but Galway can lay claim to being Ireland’s windiest county.

Based on data collected over more than five years, the Atlantic-facing county recorded the highest number of wind warnings over the longest amount of time, as well as the strongest wind speeds.

This is according to analysis of Met Éireann wind warnings from January 2020 to November 2025 by weather and hazards alert system MapAlerter.

In a study published last November, it noted that, over the past five years, Galway recorded 234 separate wind warnings, totalling 66 full days under wind alert.

This places it firmly at the top of Ireland’s wind-warning league table, ahead of other Atlantic counties.

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Donegal is the second windiest county, with 224 wind warnings over 63 days — some of which saw gusts of up to 130km/h.

Mayo was third, and Kerry and Clare were fourth and fifth respectively.

Despite being the windiest, however, Galway does not generate the most wind energy. 

This article is part of the Wind Power Special Report in the 'Irish Examiner' today, Monday, in print and online here. 

Kerry tops the wind generation charts with a capacity of 795MW. Co Cork has the second highest with 701MW, while Donegal is third with 499MW, just ahead of Galway’s 458MW.

Laois, Monaghan, and Cavan recorded the fewest wind warnings of any counties in the State.

Despite this, they do not have the lowest wind energy generation.

Cavan's output outstrips windier counties 

For example, Cavan has an installed wind energy capacity of 107MW, enough to power up to 90,000 homes, despite recording the lowest number of wind warnings.

That said, the county also recorded the lowest wind speeds associated with official wind warnings, with the strongest gusts reaching 94km/h.

This is just about the maximum speed that wind turbines can tolerate before they automatically shut down.

BRIGHT FUTURE: SR Arush Satyavolu, a student  at St Mary's CBS The Green in Tralee, with the project 'Vertical Axis Wind Turbines for Motorways' at the 2026 Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition earlier this year. File picture Chris Bellew/Fennell's

But while severe gusts have an impact on how our wind farms operate, weather is not the only reason why turbines stop running. Wind farms have to shut down when they produce more electricity than the grid can cope with.

In other words, the grid can’t carry the electricity from where it is being generated to where it is needed.

According to Wind Energy Ireland, enough wind energy to power 667,000 homes was lost during the first half of 2026 because of constraints on the electricity grid.

The industry group said the curtailed energy was worth an estimated €450m in 2024 and warned that reliance on gas-fired generation to make up the shortfall was increasing costs for consumers.