Ireland facing second highest rate of power cuts in Europe

Ireland is facing the second highest power in Europe, an EU agency estimates. 

The country could face up to 6.25 hours without electricity this winter, the second highest outage in the European Union after France.

It is predicted that the country could face “system stress” as early as November or December, the European association for the cooperation of transmission system operators for electricity (ENTSO-E) said in recent days.

Cutting electricity use by 5pc in peak times, however could reduce risks “well below” acceptable levels in Ireland while a 10pc reduction would mean risks would be “relieved substantially”.

There has been a campaign in recent weeks to cut electricity use during peak times. 

While the estimation for Ireland is high, ENTSO-E’s assessment is significantly lower than recent estimates by EirGrid, which put the figure at a possible 51 hours of outage over the five-month winter period.

In France, individual customers face up to 26 hours without electricity across the winter, due to low nuclear generation, the ENTSO-E agency said.

Malta and Cyprus were also identified as countries having risks.

Cyprus is the only other EU country, apart from Ireland, that has no energy connections with the European mainland.