Plans for enhancing the resilience of Ireland’s electricity grid in advance of the next winter storm season are expected to be considered by Cabinet on Tuesday.
The plans come in the wake of Storm Éowyn in January, one of the most severe weather events to hit Ireland.
Met Éireann issued a nationwide red warning in advance of the storm which brought gusts of up to 184km/h.
At one point 760,000 premises were without power, with it taking two weeks for supplies to be restored to the last customers in some parts of the country.
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Crews from other European countries travelled to Ireland to help with efforts to restore power.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Darragh O’Brien is expected to update Cabinet on ESB Networks’ Winter 2025 Resilience Plan, which was developed in the aftermath of the storm.
The plan, to be implemented between March and October 2025, is aimed at enhancing the resilience of the grid in the most vulnerable locations for the upcoming winter.
The Irish Times understands the plan includes a series of key actions in the areas of hazard removal and surveying, forestry management, and a materials and spares review.
The plan will see the completion of the surveying of 23,000km of electricity network following Storm Éowyn, making hazards safe and identifying remedial works needed to refurbish parts of the network weakened by the recent storms.
While ESB Networks is said to have been able to supply materials for all domestic and international crews carrying out restoration works of Storm Éowyn - as well as Storm Darragh last December - the plan sets out the intention to replenish these stocks and double them in size.
The target for having the new stocks in place is by October.
Fallen trees were a big cause of power outages in Storm Éowyn.
Under the plan, guidelines for the processes that allow for planting of new forestry in proximity to electrical infrastructure are to be assessed and revised.
Work with the Department of Agriculture and Coillte is ongoing on putting so-called “forestry corridors” on a statutory footing.
There are plans to strengthen relationships with other European countries through the signing of mutual storm support memorandums of understanding before October 2025.
There is also to be a storm review to identify additional recommendations outside of the actions in the resilience plan, in advance of future storms.
