Dozens of ESB technicians heading to France to assist with Storm Ciarán recovery

ESB Networks senior manager Alan Kelly who will lead the ESB crews in France. Picture: Iain White/ Fennell Photography

Dozens of ESB Networks technicians are travelling to France from today to assist their French counterparts to restore power following the impact of Storm Ciarán.

More than 1.2m French homes and businesses were left without power by the storm earlier this week, as gale force winds and gusts of up to 210km/h knocked over trees and caused damaged power lines.

The Northwest of France, specifically the regions of Brittany and Normandy, were acutely impacted by the extreme weather event, with 257,000 homes and businesses still without power there as of this this morning.

The storm also caused severe rainfall, high winds, landslides, and power outages in other countries, including Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Albania.

It is understood that French electricity supplier Enedis sought the assistance of ESB Networks technicians as well as UK technicians to repair the damage in France.

"This evening, an ESB Networks team comprising 48 skilled network technicians and support staff are sailing to Cherbourg to assist our French counterparts in their efforts to restore electricity to customers in Brittany and Normandy following Storm Ciarán," said ESB Networks managing director Nicholas Tarrant.

More technicians will follow after their colleagues and set sail for France from Dublin and Cork over the coming days.

Mr Tarrant said that French crews had assisted his organisation with clean up and repairs in the wake of Storm Ophelia in 2017, predominantly in West and North Cork which bore the brunt of the damage.

He said ESB crews would now be returning the favour by "sharing their expertise to help speedily restore electricity to customers in Northern France."

Mr Tarrant added that ESB Networks had "a proud track record" of responding to storm events in Ireland and in neighbouring countries impacted by storms.

In 2021, ESB crews assisted with power restoration in England and Scotland following disruptive winds associated with storms Arwen and Barra.