Check out our contribution to Science Week here: Energia Group Science Week 2025

Science Foundation Ireland celebrated its 30th anniversary of Science Week this month with the reflective theme: Then. Today. Tomorrow. This year, we used the theme as an opportunity to reflect on how science has shaped our journey at Energia Group. From pioneering renewable energy solutions to helping our customers on their decarbonisation journey, science has been at the heart of our mission to lead the energy transition across the island of Ireland.

Looking back to ‘then’, we were at the heart of innovation across our customer solutions, renewable energy and flexible generation businesses. Our supply company in Northern Ireland, Power NI, has been supplying homes and businesses with electricity for over 90 years.  We’ve been developing wind energy since 2008 and, the oldest wind farm in our current portfolio is Hollyford in Co. Tipperary, built in 2014.  Contrasting the oldest and newest projects in our renewable portfolio demonstrates how science and innovation have evolved wind turbine technology from what were leading 3 MW turbines at Hollyford to 6.1MW turbines at our latest Drumlins Park Wind Farm.

To ensure security of supply, in 2002 and 2007 we expanded into the area of gas with the commissioning of our two CCGT plants at the Huntstown site in North Dublin. Scientific innovation has enabled us to use technological solutions to develop what is now one of Ireland’s most efficient and technologically advanced gas-fired plants, able to respond to changes in electricity demand when intermittent renewables are not available.

‘Today’, we continue to expand our renewables and power generation portfolio with scientific innovation. We are now a leading renewables platform currently supply 17% of the island of Ireland’s total electricity requirements and 21% of installed wind power capacity. Our Crossmore Wind farm will soon become our 17^th wind farm in our renewables portfolio. Now supplying energy to over 880,700 homes across the island of Ireland, our Customer Solutions business uses science to embrace a data-driven, digital-first approach to support our customers on their own decarbonisation journey.  We have introduced digital solutions like “Energy Insights”, Our Digital IQ platform and Connect360 which have all provided customers with additional innovative tools that further empower them on their energy choices.

Our two plants at Huntstown continue to support an established, integrated energy transition platform on the island of Ireland. We are now in the early stages of developing our new Data Centre project, in partnership with Microsoft including generating 100% renewable energy on site, facilitating the digital decarbonisation process across the island.

‘Tomorrow’, into the future, we’ll use science to expand into new and existing renewable and energy technologies, leading Ireland’s energy transition. Our pipeline includes the future development of over 3.4 GW of renewable energy projects. This will deliver green electricity to more than 1 million homes. Several more wind farms are due to come on stream in the near future and we are investing heavily in solar, with the current solar pipeline expected to generate 657 MW. Our renewables business is also currently commissioning the first green hydrogen production facility on the island of Ireland. In the case of offshore wind, we have partnered with the Norway-based offshore wind company Vårgrønn, to create a new joint venture with the ambition to develop at least 2GW of offshore wind across the island of Ireland. 

At our Huntstown site, we will continue to invest in innovative projects. We will be investing in two large scale refurbishment projects to upgrade the two Huntstown sites ensuring it continues to provide security of supply for Ireland into the future as more and more renewables connect onto the grid.  In line with the Group’s strategy, we are also developing a new data centre on the Huntstown campus, bringing together the objectives of decarbonisation and digitalisation to power a new model of growth.

At Energia Group, sustainability is central to our mission. We are committed to using science-based solutions to address climate change and to power Ireland’s energy transition helping Ireland achieve Net Zero by 2050.