Consumers to pay for storm damage to the electricity distribution network?

Good find, Someone got a telling off after Simon read AAM. :)

AAM, is always here to help!
 
More nonsense out of a farming sector representative about the electricity distribution network problems, from the Indo report above.

"The days of expecting the ESB to know every pole from Malin to Mizen and every boreen in between is just delusional"

ICMSA president Denis Drennan "said the impact shattered the “delusion” that ESB Networks had the capacity to inspect and maintain the entire network of overhead lines satisfactorily."

Who does Drennan suggest should know all these poles and their locations and who does he suggest can maintain them? The ESB installed them and at the moment only the ESB has staff and access to specialist contractors with adequate training to maintain them and the power lines they support.

Your input is probably less useful than a chocolate taypot or uninsulated pliers there Dinny. Stick to the knitting or the milking as the case may be.
 
Drennan is of course correct.

There is a massive difference between knowing all the poles and their locations across the country and having "the capacity to inspect and maintain the entire network of overhead lines satisfactorily."

It's pretty obvious at the very least that ESB Networks would benefit from some sort of crowd sourcing of local knowledge on issues like overhanging trees near wires and the like. And also from a partnership model with local farmers who easily have the capacity and tools to remove trees and branches likely to constitute a future threat to power lines.

But if it makes you feel better, do keep insulting the man for daring to make a constructive suggestion in the hope of preventing future heartbreak and hardship for households.
 
Every year a sub-contractor - with an ESB ID card - visits our isolated area and walks the land around every single electricity cable. Where he identifies a potential problem, he logs it and (presumably) refers it to the relevant section of the ESB. I assume - but can't say for certain - that this procedure occurs countrywide.

Last year I noticed that the power cable into our property had come loose and was swinging wildly in the wind, so I flagged it with them (by email) and a few days later a team turned up and re-affixed the cable tightly to it to the pole. (I was interested to note that as well as using heavy duty cable ties, they also used coban for this work.)
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Apparently, a small group of people object to every application for a license to plant, to fell or to even build a gate into a forest path.
Click to expand...

Yep. This guy is a big player:-

www.businesspost.ie

Over half of all recent appeals on forestry licences made by one man

Peter Sweetman has been involved in 351 of the 624 appeals since the beginning of 2018
www.businesspost.ie www.businesspost.ie

www.irishtimes.com

Environmental activist seeks leave to challenge tree-felling licence

Peter Sweetman has initiated court challenge to decision allowing trees to be cut down in Co Cavan
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com
 
I agree, it
Brendan Burgess said:
ting to know how many of his objections and appeals have been successful.
Click to expand...

Yes, it would but the Courts are clogged up and what he has taken an objection to has been stopped so you could argue that even that action has been a success.
 
There is no doubt that he has been successful in his campaign.

A lot of farmers are just not bothering with forestry because of the hassle in getting licenses to plant and to fell.

But whether that is good for the country or not is another issue.
 
There is also an uncomfortable reality that Ireland needs substantially more timber production than it currently has. The lack of it will mean greater reliance on concrete, steel and plastics.
 
T McGibney said:
And also from a partnership model with local farmers who easily have the capacity and tools to remove trees and branches likely to constitute a future threat to power lines.
Click to expand...
We've experienced this kind of "partnership model" locally and have lost our electricity supply when local farmers (I don't know if they were dairy farmers) cut down trees and kibitzed the wires.

No thanks, Dinny, leave it to the professionals, they're doing a bad enough job on their own.
 
Statement from ESB Group on costs... the comparison with Ophelia is worth noting

There has been a query relating to Storm Ophelia as a reference point. Storm Ophelia in October 2017 resulted in 385,000 customer losses which is around half of the 768,000 customer losses experienced in Storm Éowyn. Following on from Storm Ophelia, ESB Networks calculated the incremental cost associated with that storm and engaged with the Regulator in relation to those costs. Following examination by the Regulator, a total one-off charge of around €7 (seven euro) per customer was recovered in the year from October 2018.

Statement by ESB on costs relating to Storm Éowyn

esb.ie esb.ie
 
Just because poles came down during this storm doesn't necessarily mean that they was anything wrong with them.
A lot came down because of trees falling on them . It's just not possible for the ESB to check every pole in the country but I'm sure there is are general checks during 'quiet' times.
 
Indeed it isn't possible for ESB to check every pole in the country but, as above, a crowd sourcing of intelligence from the public to that effect would surely be of assistance in that regard.

The same goes for reporting of obvious fire hazards in Irish forests, of which there is no shortage either..
 
joer said:
Just because poles came down during this storm doesn't necessarily mean that they was anything wrong with them.
Click to expand...
Other than the fact that they were placed too close to trees that fell on them. And the wires were brought down by falling trees even if the poles didn't fall.
 
And how much of the trees came down in the Coillte state owned forestries, afterall they are the biggest land owners in the country
 
Good news from the ESB!

Business Post.

Customers are facing electricity bill hikes of more than €150 a year to fund major power grid upgrades. Businesses and households will pick up the costs as part of major grid investment proposals that have been submitted to the energy regulator by both ESB Networks and Eirgrid.

There has been an increased focus on the security of the system as thousands of homes and businesses are still without power two weeks after Storm Éowyn hit Ireland. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) will decide on the increased bill charges, which will then begin to rise from the end of the year.

The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy to subsidise renewables is also expected to increase in the years ahead, adding to the costs facing business and domestic customers.

The total potential increase to the average household bill of €150 has been derived from a Business Post analysis of the increased proposals from both ESB Networks and Eirgrid.
Click to expand...

The report adds that the €150 figure could increase after the Minister for Energy, asked ESB Networks to review its proposals last week in the wake of Storm Éowyn.
 
Leo said:
Are you suggesting we build a distribution network impervious to falling trees and structures? If so then the most likely alternative is underground, but no one is willing to set aside the hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, that would cost.
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No, I'm not suggesting that. I'm pointing out that there'll be a greater incidence of falling trees and structures in the future and we need to plan for this, taking into account that our distribution system won't be impervious to falling trees and structure.

That may mean some upgrading of the system to make it more physically resistant, but probably more redesigning of the total system so that local disruption due to physical damage doesn't have such severe consequences. So, e.g. more dispersed generating capacity; greater local storage capacity; etc. This is an engineering problem and I'm not an engineer but I do know that "there must be more investment in the power system to protect me from power failures and someone else must pay for it!" is not really an engineering solution.
 
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