Urban Electricity
Electricity has been in Ireland since the late 1800's. Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick had private energy firms supplying urban centres. Dublin at the time, outside the city limits was divided into townships such as Rathmines and Pembroke. Each of them had their own technology in use that differed to that used in the City Corporation's area of operation. However with the amalgamation of the City and the townships one technology was settled upon. Whilst the ESB was established by the fledgling Irish government in 1927, the coal-fired power station at the Pigeon House at Poolbeg began generating electricity for the city in 1903. It was later to be the home of the double-chimneyed power station which is a landmark in Dublin Bay.
In 1929, the ESB embarked upon what was seen as one of the most ambitious electricity undertakings in the world at the time with the construction of the Ardnacrusha hydro power plant (the Shannon Scheme) producing 85MW of electricity. It was from here that the first wires of the national Grid were to originate.
Rural Electricity
The electrification of rual Ireland was another ambitious project and was visionary in its use of networking. This type of rural development is advocated in modern times as one of the best models of economic growth by renowned economists and academics. The ESB used the Church, farming organisation, local women's associations and small local businesses to promote connection to the national grid. This way the project wound its way through the highways and byways of Ireland's rural hinterlands. It wasn't without objections as electricity was seen by some clergy members as the 'work of the devil' but as soon as the benefits were seen in areas first connected the timely delivery of the project was assured.
Rural electrification began in the 1940's however as early as 1906 one rural town in Leitrim, Drumshanbo, had street lighting and domestic electricity. This was as a result of the innovations of a local entrepreneur who used a water wheel to generate electricity for his jam factory in the town centre. However he realised that he was producing surplus to his own requirements so the townspeople and streets were connected. This electricity supply was provided to them until the 1940's when the town was connected to the National Grid. In fact later, the area became home to the first major power station in the North West of the country with the construction of the Arigna power station that used coal from the local coal seams until 1990.
Growth in Demand
The last century and indeed even the last decade has seen phenomenal growth in demand with unforeseen technological developement both in electrical equipment and in generation and supply. If we were to review our dependence on electricity to the nth degree we would be shocked at how quickly chaos would reign if supply was not available. Not only would we not have electricity in our homes and work-places, we would have no street lighting or traffic lights. Water works and sewage treatment plants would grind to a halt as would our communication systems. Food supplies would run low and societal norms would slowly give way to anarchy.