Ireland’s largest independent energy provider, Energia has emerged as the ‘greenest energy supplier’ on the island of Ireland. The top all-island ranking comes in the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) report on fuel-mix and CO2 emissions for individual electricity suppliers licensed in Ireland. ‘Fuel-mix’ means the type of fuels or resources that generators use to make electricity.
The recent report found that Energia’s all-island emissions of CO2 in tonnes per Megawatt Hour (MWh) of electricity supplied was 0.424 in 2012, ahead of the all-island average 0.481, and competing suppliers; Airtricity (0.449), Electric Ireland (0.469) and Bord Gáis (0.480).
Gary Ryan, Retail Director at Energia, says: “Environmental sustainability is central to Energia’s business. As the largest independent provider of power on the island, sourced mainly from wind energy and gas generation, we are proud to also be named the greenest energy supplier on the island of Ireland and one of the most significant contributors to the achievement of Ireland’s C02 emissions targets. These results are achieved through a wide range of initiatives including wind farm development, efficiencies in our modern gas fired generating facilities and a portfolio of green Power Purchase Agreements from wind farms (PPA’s).”
The report published by the CER outlines each supplier’s fuel mix figures and the CO2 per Megawatt Hour (MWh) of electricity supplied for each supplier in the all-island market as well as an overall figure representative of the all-island electricity market.
According to Gary Ryan, Ireland should ramp up the generation of energy from renewable resources as an insurance policy against increases in global fossil fuels prices. “Right now we’re generating 2,200 MW from renewables. 1MW is like one turbine, which would be sufficient to supply 600 homes. In order to get 40%, we need 4,500 MW. We’re well on our way to meeting that, but challenges remain.”
He continues: “There has been a lot of talk about fracking and there has been a shift in the global economy which has seen fossil fuels become cheaper. The EU has indicated that renewables is the way forward in terms of sustainability. We have to take a longer term view.”