Ireland’s companies invested €16.2 billion in energy supplies in 2022, marking an 83% rise from the preceding year, as indicated by recent data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This spike was triggered by Russia’s early 2022 assault on Ukraine, which acted as a catalyst, causing a ripple effect within worldwide energy markets.
In addition to expenditure, energy usage in volume also escalated in the country, with consumption spiking by 22% compared to 2021. The industrial sector saw a moderate energy usage increase of 1.3%, while the services sector witnessed a dramatic surge of 47% in their energy use, according to Dympna Corry from the CSO’s climate and energy division. A considerable portion of this spike can be attributed to the purchases of jet kerosene, which soared by 76% from 2,903 kilotonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) in 2021 to 5,096 ktoe in 2022.
This considerable uptick in jet fuel usage likely mirrors the revival in air travel during 2022, following a couple of years of Covid-19-triggered travel and health measures. The CSO further revealed that 40% of the energy used in 2022 was consumed by the transport sector, with the electricity and gas sectors utilising 27%.
On another note, coal consumption continued to falter, dropping another 13% from 1.3 million tonnes in 2021 to 1.1 million tonnes in 2022. Hefty fuel oil purchases also dwindled by 11% – from 387 million litres in 2021 to 342 million litres in 2022. In contrast, peat purchases underwent a slight increase of 1.5%, predominately for electricity generation in power plants. They grew from 480,000 tonnes in 2021 to 487,000 tonnes in 2022.