ESB Battens Down the Hatches for Winter After Storm Eowyn Cost 140 Million Euro and Exposed Grid Vulnerabilities
The ESB has published its winter resilience plan for 2026-27, drawing on the hard lessons of Storm Eowyn — the most expensive weather event in Irish history, which cost the group 140 million euro in operating and capital costs, left over 768,000 customers without power at its peak, and exposed significant vulnerabilities in Ireland's electricity distribution network that the utility is now working urgently to address.
Background
Storm Eowyn struck Ireland in late January 2025 with a ferocity that had not been seen since Hurricane Debbie in 1961. A bomb cyclone that developed rapidly in the North Atlantic, Eowyn brought wind gusts of up to 183 kilometres per hour at Mace Head in County Galway — a new Irish record — and caused widespread destruction across the country. Red wind warnings were issued for every county in Ireland, and an emergency alert was broadcast to approximately 4.5 million mobile devices in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The storm's impact on Ireland's electricity infrastructure was unprecedented. ESB Networks reported that over 768,000 customers in Ireland and 240,000 in Northern Ireland lost power at the peak of the event — the largest power outage in the history of the Irish state. Restoring power to all affected customers took days in some cases, with remote rural areas in the west and midlands particularly badly affected. The storm exposed the vulnerability of overhead power lines to extreme wind events, particularly in areas where trees had grown close to or over the lines. The total cost to the ESB of Storm Eowyn was 140 million euro — 100 million in operating costs and 40 million in capital costs. This figure, which represents one of the largest single-event costs in the company's history, has focused minds at the highest levels of the organisation on the need for a comprehensive winter resilience programme.
Key Developments
The ESB's winter resilience plan for 2026-27, published this week, sets out a series of measures designed to reduce the vulnerability of the network to extreme weather events. The centrepiece of the plan is a major timber management programme: the ESB has identified and removed or cut back 8,000 weakened or diseased trees that posed risks to power lines, and has completed 17,000 kilometres of regular timber cutting along the network. An additional 337 kilometres of forestry has been surveyed for priority work. The plan also includes investment in network monitoring technology, improved storm response protocols, and enhanced communication systems to keep customers informed during outages. The ESB has worked with Met Eireann to improve its storm forecasting capabilities, allowing the company to pre-position repair crews and equipment in areas likely to be worst affected before a storm makes landfall. The ESB has also issued updated public safety guidance on the dangers of approaching fallen electricity wires, which were often hidden by debris during Storm Eowyn and posed a significant risk to members of the public.
Why It Matters
Storm Eowyn was a wake-up call for Ireland's electricity infrastructure. The scale of the outage — 768,000 customers without power — and the duration of the restoration effort exposed the extent to which the network's resilience had not kept pace with the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events driven by climate change. Met Eireann has warned that storms of Eowyn's intensity are likely to become more frequent as global temperatures rise, which means that the vulnerabilities exposed in January 2025 will be tested again — and possibly more severely — in the years ahead. The ESB's 140 million euro cost from a single storm also has implications for electricity prices. The company's costs are ultimately recovered through network charges paid by consumers, and a series of major storm events could put upward pressure on bills at a time when energy affordability is already a significant concern for households across Ireland. Investment in network resilience — while costly in the short term — is therefore also an investment in price stability over the longer term.
Local Impact
The communities most affected by Storm Eowyn's power outages were in the west and midlands of Ireland — counties Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, and Leitrim, as well as parts of Connacht and Munster. In these areas, the ESB's timber management programme has been visible in recent months, with crews working along rural roads and through forestry areas to clear trees that pose a risk to the network. Some landowners have raised concerns about the removal of mature trees, and the ESB has established a consultation process to address these concerns. ESB Networks has also been working with Irish Water and other utilities to improve coordination of infrastructure maintenance in rural areas.
What's Next
The ESB's winter resilience plan will be implemented over the coming months, with the timber management programme expected to be substantially complete before the end of October. The company will publish a progress report on the plan in January 2027, following the first winter season under the new protocols. Met Eireann has forecast an active storm season for 2026-27, and the ESB has confirmed that it is better prepared than it was before Storm Eowyn. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities is reviewing the ESB's network investment plans and is expected to publish a determination on future network charges before the end of the year.
