Photo by Colin C Murphy on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 20 June 2025, the state utility ESB stopped burning coal at Moneypoint Power Station in County Clare, Ireland's last coal-fired plant. The move, six months earlier than planned, ended four decades of coal power in Ireland and made it the 15th European country to stop generating electricity from coal.
Key facts
Moneypoint is a 915 MW plant that ran on coal from the mid-1980s and once met about a quarter of Ireland's electricity needs.
Wind supplied 37% of Ireland's electricity in 2024, up from about 1% at the turn of the millennium.
The site has hosted a 17 MW onshore wind farm since 2017 and is planned to become a large renewable energy hub.
Ten more European countries have committed to leaving coal within five years, according to Beyond Fossil Fuels.
Why it matters
Coal is one of the most carbon-intensive ways to make electricity, about 25% more so than even the heavy fuel oil Moneypoint now keeps in reserve. Ireland shows that a small island grid, with limited links to its neighbors, can replace coal largely with wind.
Worth noting
Moneypoint stays available until 2029 as an emergency backup that burns heavy fuel oil when the grid operator EirGrid needs it. In May 2026, the Irish Academy of Engineering called for a return to coal there, a recommendation several of its own members publicly rejected.