Storm Éowyn: First two generators from European Union arrive in Ireland

ESB crews working to restore power. Sme customers may be waiting until next week to see their power restored. File picture: Larry Cummins

The first two large-capacity generators from the European Union have arrived in Ireland, almost one week after Storm Éowyn caused destruction across the country.

The Government has said the generators — with more due to arrive — will be deployed to get water supplies back and reestablish internet and mobile phone networks.

The Romanian Air Force offered their assistance to transport the heavy load from Poland to Ireland.

Ireland does not have to pay for the service as it is covered by the EU Budget, the European Commission told the Irish Examiner.

The commission said on Tuesday that they received a request from Ireland for assistance relating to “power outages caused by the record-breaking Storm Éowyn”.

As a result the commission activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and “immediately mobilised” 13 power generators from the Commission's own strategic reserve, rescEU, hosted in Poland.

It said that four power generators offered by Denmark via the Mechanism would also soon reach Ireland and help provide electricity on the ground.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the European Commission today confirmed that two of the generators had been delivered — and that more were on the way.

“Two generators from the rescEU stockpile in Poland were delivered today to Ireland,” it said.

“The transport of generators from the European rescEU reserve is covered 100% from the EU budget. The European Commission’s transport broker as well as Romania offered their means to airlift that assistance.” It added: “More deliveries are expected in the coming days.”

It comes as approximately 108,000 homes are still without power across the country.

ESB Networks managing director Nicholas Tarrant described the past week as “very challenging” for both the company and customers right across the country following the extreme weather event that hit last Friday.

It comes as he said a review will be undertaken, in conjunction with other agencies, about the impact of Storm Éowyn. The results of the review will be published as it will have an impact on the future of the energy provider.

Mr Tarrant said the country has experienced wind speeds that have not been seen since electrical infrastructure was set up in Ireland, describing the scale of the damage as “really incredible”.

Some 768,000 customers were initially without electricity, which was nearly one third of all connected customers and double the number previously impacted by a storm. Éowyn was the worst storm the country had ever faced, surpassing previous major storms like Storm Darragh and Storm Ophelia (in 2017), he said.

Mr Tarrant said the scale of the challenge in restoring power to these homes has been “huge”, but said ESB crews have made “incredible progress”.

Around 2,800 people are working on restoration in order to restore power to as many customers as possible.

“We've got assistance beyond our own teams, from our contract partners and from counties right across the country who’ve come to our aid and understand the scale of what we're facing here,” he added.

Around 2,800 people are working on restoration in order to restore power to as many customers as possible. Customers situated in the midlands and north-west of the country “took the most severe of the ferocious winds”, causing severe damage.

Mr Tarrant told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that the storm will encourage the utility to take stock of the overall network in order to learn from it going forward. “What was unique about the storm was it impacted from our high voltage network right down to medium voltage and low voltage,” he added.

Significant investment in the electricity network is needed to ensure this widescale outage does not happen again, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Tarrant said some customers may be waiting until next week to see their power restored.

ESB Powercheck will continue to be updated as works progress. However, some customers are unable to access this information due to “challenges around connectivity”, he said.

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Mr Tarrant said the exact timeline of when all customers will be restored is “very difficult to predict at this stage given the scale of the damage”.

“But we are going to keep customers informed over the coming days as to how that restoration effort is going, and as the numbers are coming down, but the scale of the damage out there is still very, very significant in this really unique storm,” he added.

It comes as the Taoiseach has called for an increased flow of humanitarian aid to areas badly impacted by the storm. 

The Taoiseach made the call at a meeting between government ministers, officials and the chair of the National Emergency Coordination Group, where he was updated on the latest works across the country.

Mr Martin was said to have emphasised that there needs to be more aid provided in the coming days, with particular focus on areas that are still without electricity and water.

Discussions at the meeting also dealt with preparations for extreme weather events, to increase the country’s resilience.

Water shortages

Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann said that water has been restored to over 4,500 homes and businesses since Wednesday, leaving approximately 2,800 premises without water.

Alternative water supplies remain in place to support local communities who are experiencing shortages.

Uisce Éireann said they are liaising with local Co-ordination Groups and Emergency Response Hubs, as well as the Civil Defence. 

Updates on the location of alternative water supplies and other supply updates are available on the Úisce Eireann website, www.water.ie. 

Generators have been installed at almost all of the plants, pumping stations and reservoirs where it is feasible to do so and our crews continue to operate and maintain these. 

"We are continuing to work closely with the ESB to prioritise the restoration of electricity supply in the remaining locations and thank them for their ongoing support," the statement read.

Uisce Éireann appealed to the public to continue to conserve water where possible as supplies return, so reservoir levels can recover.

Crews from ESB Networks and partner contractors carrying out repair work in some of the most impacted areas of the North West.

Elsewhere Alone chief executive Sean Moynihan has called for members of the community to check in on older neighbours to offer assistance even if they are normally self reliant.

Last year, the support organisation for the elderly assisted 42,000 elderly people. The charity has tried to make contact with these individuals over the past week, but the lack of communication services in several areas has created problems.

Mr Moynihan said the challenge was identifying the gap where people who traditionally were not vulnerable or normally were coping well, who might be missed because they were not known to services.

“Ultimately we need to have every older person who has the ability to reach out, to stay in contact. 

And if they do need support, no matter how proud or how resilient or how stoic they normally are, please reach out for support to an agency like ourselves. If we can't support you, we will find somebody else who will solve the problem you have.

“Obviously we need everybody to be reaching out, checking in with neighbours. Home carers and the councils are doing their best, but ultimately the concern we all have like we had having covid and other times is that somebody will be missed.” 

If people have access to a phone, he urged them to call 0818 222 024 “we're here seven days a week, 12 hours a day”.