On January 24th, 2025, Storm Éowyn tore through Ireland with its devastating winds, leaving a trail of unforeseen destruction in its wake. The damage was extensive, however, none more crippling than that done to the fragile Irish grid. Over 768,000 homes, farms and businesses were left without power, with even some rural families being left in darkness for over a week.
I believe that this disaster raises an uncomfortable, yet no less necessary question: Has Ireland prioritised renewable energy projects over the reliability of its own electricity network?
Crisis
In my honest opinion, Ireland’s failure on the electrical front was not merely an unfortunate consequence of extreme weather, but the only inevitable outcome of years of short term thinking and misplaced investments.
As I have discussed several times before on this Substack, the national grid is the backbone of any modern society by virtue of the fact that energy is the primary driver of civilisational development.
Fine Gael MEP, Sean Kelly, said the following about the Irish electricity system, “it is no longer adequate to meet the demands of a 21st-century society increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure and electrification.”
The grid is far too fragile. Overhead power lines snapped under the sheer force of falling trees, overloading transformers, thereby plunging vast swathes of our country into darkness.
Yes, the winds were catastrophic. They even managed to knock down two trees in my garden, blocking our own driveway.
However, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Despite repeated warnings from past storms such as Ophelia in 2017 and Barra in 2021, like many things in Ireland, a laid back attitude was taken and yet again, little was done to secure our energy infrastructure.
Instead, billions have been poured into renewable energy projects, primarily focusing on intermittent energy sources. However, these have barely made a dent in our energy ambitions, as only 13.1% of our energy consumption came from renewable sources, bottoming the EU rankings. Where exactly is this money going? When one looks at our tragic track record of governmental projects, such as our €2 billion children’s hospital or €336,000 bike shed, it’s obvious that things need to change.
What good is a wind farm in the Irish Sea if the electricity it generates cannot reach the homes that need it? Even better, those wind turbines would most certainly need to be turned off under such extreme windy conditions to avoid even greater damage.
Misguided Investments
Repeatedly, we are told that electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps are the future, and to do away with our hearty, warm, wood burning stoves. However, what good are those when everything is wiped out? When the storm hit, over a million people were left without power to charge their vehicles or heat their homes.
Those who jumped on the electrification bandwagon found themselves left behind by the very same government who told them to do so. They were left in the darkness and cold, with no viable alternative.
Eamon Ryan, former minister for the environment and transport in Ireland, recently wrote an article for the ‘The Guardian” newspaper where he said the following, “I regret none of the climate policies we pushed in Ireland.”
I feel compelled to pose the question, have our priorities, our investments, been misplaced?
This push for electrification is being championed at a time when frankly our grid can barely handle our current load, let alone a proposed future where everything runs on electricity.
Should we not instead shift our emphasis to energy security? Only by first modernising our electricity grid can we leap into the reality of a fully electrified nation.
The Rural Afterthought
Storm Éowyn has, for me, exposed another uncomfortable truth, namely being the fact that rural Ireland is consistently neglected in national planning. While Dublin enjoys a robust and quickly restored power network, we’re left here, bearing the brunt of prolonged outages. All over the news were stories relating to the disgruntlement of the Irish people, with rural families receiving no updates as to when they may get their power back.
Instead of learning from other European nations such as the Netherlands and choosing to invest in underground cables for our most vulnerable communities, we are instead forgotten. This disparity is not merely an inconvenience, but nothing less than a glaring symbol of governmental neglect and urban favouritism.
All too often, we in rural Ireland hear the news of new public transport initiatives and cycle lane developments in urban hubs across the country, yet witness little to no development back home. Instead, carbon taxes are increased placing even greater strains on families who are left with no other options than to turn to fossil fuel sources of energy generation to keep their farms, businesses and homes running.
To many, the government’s priorities are evident, those being overpriced, poorly managed renewable energy projects and urban electrification. This leaves rural regions feeling undervalued due to blatant underfunding.
Is this truly the vision for progress?
This country is a miracle story of unparalleled progress in the Western world. In the span of a few years, we turned ourselves from a rural, agricultural state into a wealthy nation, whose issues related to energy security should be but a remnant of a time long ago. As previously mentioned, our track record with governmental projects of any size is abysmal, so I suppose it’s of little surprise that, despite our bustling economy, such poor financial prioritisation has occurred.
With the 2024 election seeing the lowest voter turnout in the past century, it’s apparent that the general sentiments among the public are those of a nagging hopelessness when it comes to change.
Enough Said… It’s Time for Action
The failure of the Irish grid in the face of Storm Éowyn should serve as nothing less than a wake-up call. Yes, investment into renewable energy is important, but we should be investing into the right sources, a topic I have previously covered in another article.
To me, the situation is reminiscent of the LA fires which recently hit international headlines. In an effort to promote ‘environmental’ initiatives, the state government shut down Klamath Dam, with Scott Dam next on the chopping board, thereby impoverishing the farm communities and residents who rely on it. To promote ‘greenery’, little was done to cut down the vast swathes of shrubbery covering California’s expansive landscape. Without the necessary combination of open ground and uneven canopy, the fires were permitted to rage, and rage they did.
Furthermore, despite an aging energy infrastructure, companies like PG&E were content to instead invest in renewable energy projects and not upgrade their electricity transmission systems. Despite power lines accounting for 19% of the US’ wildfires, little has been done to mitigate the risks.
Unfortunately, the same can be said of Ireland. Driving along the old country roads, it’s not rare to see multitudes of dead trees, suffocating in ivy, leaning precariously against a power line supported by a fragile, lonesome wooden pole. One bad gust of wind is all it would need to spell disaster for that poor cable.
Action is required, immediately.
First and foremost, we must ensure our electric grid is stable and resilient. Instead of pouring money into renewable projects that are simply not having the desired impact, we must prioritise the hard-working individuals and families who keep our country ticking. We want them to have a warm living room to come home to after a long and stressful day. Leaving them without such basic essentials for over a week is frankly not good enough.
I fear that if we do not learn from this disaster, then, when the next storm comes, we will find ourselves scrambling in the dark again, wondering where it all went wrong.
This article was written by David, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn to keep in touch