March 9, 2026
Coal turkey, hot takes incoming
Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe
Wind wins, turf wars ignite, and doomers predict blackouts
TLDR: Ireland shut its last coal plant and now leans on wind, with oil kept as emergency backup. Comments split between celebration, calls to end peat burning and rein in data centers, and skeptics warning of crises or ‘outsourced’ emissions—making this a symbolic win that still faces real-world tests.
Ireland just pulled the plug on coal, and the comments are hotter than a furnace. Cheerleaders are calling the Moneypoint shutdown a clean break, with one green user pleading, “hopefully they can end turf burning too” (that’s peat cut from wetlands and burned for heat). But the doom-posters arrived fast: “Just in time for an energy crisis :-)” one snarked, while another insisted Europe merely “exported its coal burden” by importing goods made with coal. The result? A scrap over whether “coal-free” is a milestone or marketing—complete with memes about going “coal turkey” and bets on “blackout bingo” this winter.
The facts: the 1980s-built plant is out because wind now supplies about 37% of Ireland’s electricity, with solar smashing records lately (Ember). The twist: Moneypoint can still burn oil as an emergency backup until 2029 under EirGrid rules, so purists say the job’s not done. Campaigners at Beyond Fossil Fuels and Friends of the Earth Ireland want storage, stronger grids, and fewer data centers—and are side-eyeing new gas plants. One commenter from Eastern Europe groaned their country burns most of the EU’s home-heating coal, underscoring the thread’s mood: celebration with a big asterisk.
Key Points
- •Ireland ended coal power generation at the 915 MW Moneypoint plant, becoming the 15th coal-free country in Europe.
- •Wind supplied 37% (11.4 TWh) of Ireland’s electricity in 2024; solar produced 0.97 TWh and is setting records.
- •Moneypoint will retain a limited heavy fuel oil backup role under EirGrid’s emergency instruction until 2029.
- •The backup strategy aligns with EirGrid and ESB plans to exit coal-fired generation by end-2025 and remove Moneypoint from the wholesale market.
- •Beyond Fossil Fuels notes 23 European countries have committed to coal phase-outs; mainland Italy and Spain expect to complete theirs this summer.