There is one marketplace for purchasing energy on the island of Ireland, the Internal Electricity Market (SEM), and electricity is bought and sold on a half-hourly basis the following day in a bidding process.

The system will always choose the cheapest, most efficient energy to meet demand first – this is almost always wind/renewable energy. However, the remaining energy needed to meet total demand must then come from elsewhere. Recently this has become gas-fired generation and it is this last generator that determines the price in that half hour. All producers, including renewable energy sources, will then be paid this rate.

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