Solar power soars in Northern Ireland during sunniest March on record

A number of solar farms, the majority located in County Antrim, generated an average output of 20.7 GWh (gigawatt hours) during each 24-hour period.

This meant that during most afternoons in March, when the sun was at its peak, large scale solar was delivering 70 MW of electricity, enough to power around 70 thousand homes.

High pressure weather conditions, leading to record-breaking March sunshine meant that large scale solar output was 64 per cent up on March 2021.

SONI manages the Northern Ireland electricity grid and has enabled world leading levels of renewable energy onto the Northern Ireland power system.

Managing director. Alan Campbell, explained: “It is hard not to correlate the record breaking sunshine and heat we experienced this March with climate change, but it is important that we do what we can to arrest the climate crisis and renewable energy is a key part of this.

“During March, large scale solar made up 2.2 per cent of Northern Ireland’s demand for electricity, and when you think that during the majority of afternoon’s in March, that solar was producing enough to power seventy thousand homes, it is clear to see the growing impact of this technology on Northern Ireland’s overall energy mix.”

The statistics shine a light on the contribution of large scale solar to the Northern Ireland power system in March 2022.

Over the month, the solar power produced was 20.7 GWh - up from 12.6 GWh last year.

This satisfied 2.2 per cent of Northern Ireland’s demand, an increase from 1.4 per cent in March 2021.