Our world is constantly adapting and changing, from the cars that we drive to the homes that we live in.

Think about it - just fifty years ago things like solar panels or renewable energy would have seemed impossible. But thanks to new inventions and technology, those are now widely available and accessible to everyone.

As the Irish technology infrastructure progresses, it’s important that our electricity network is able to grow and pivot.

“We look after the network right now and make sure that it is safe and reliable but we’re always looking towards the future,” explains Claire Quane, the Network Operations Manager in ESB Networks. “We want to help our customers, the energy industry and all third party stakeholders in not just by keeping the lights on, but by rising to the defining challenge of tackling climate change by powering cars and heat with clean electricity.”

Claire leads the Networks Operations team with responsibility for the safe and efficient operation of the distribution network in real time and into the future.

“What that means is that people within my team manage the day-to-day 24/7 national electricity distribution control centre, operations systems, policy and future operations requirements so we will cater for customers’ evolving needs,” Claire adds.

As you can imagine, the 24/7 national electricity distribution control centre is a busy environment.

Keeping the nation humming

“You never know what any given day will bring,” Claire explains. “Sometimes you think you have a plan for the day but in operations, you really do just have to go with what is happening in real-time. That’s the nature of it.

“On an ongoing basis, if there are faults or work needs to be done to the network, we can remotely operate the electricity network and work with our front-line staff in the field to make sure that power is restored as safely and quickly as possible.”

Claire and her team are also called upon when there is an emergency.

“During a storm situation, our team, along with the technicians and engineers on the ground, deliver the plan that gets our customers’ power back as quickly as possible. We must ensure that the larger faults, which impact the biggest number of customers, are fixed on the high and medium voltage networks first. Then, we can work to fix the smaller faults and the local networks. All parts of our organisation have to work closely together in a storm situation, from the control centre to the public safety team and the customer contact centre, to the network technicians and engineers on the ground.”

Looking towards the future

As well as keeping the system running day-to-day, Claire and her team are focused on preparing the electricity network operations for new developments such as micro generation and electric vehicles.

“We’re really cognisant of the future,” she explains. “Obviously there are huge changes happening in the energy industry in terms of the growth in renewable energy sources, electric cars and electric heat in homes and it’s really fascinating to work in this dynamic area.

“From an operations perspective, we need to make sure that we are ready for that as the network is going to change radically. We need to ensure that the network can be managed dynamically and cater for the additional demand and renewables. We also need to make sure that we can monitor the network remotely and that it can feedback the information we need in operations to help keep our customers updated on restoration of power, planned outages and capacity available for new connections.”

Serving customers

As the system grows and changes, Claire says that the customer’s needs will continue to be the top priority.

“ESB Networks has been around for a long time,” she states. “Things have been relatively straightforward in relation to what customers need from us and how they interact with us. Now, we’re transforming this relationship.

“We all recognise as a society the imperative for climate action. The electricity system is going to be key to lowering carbon emissions in the future through renewable energy and the electrification of transport and heat. Our position in that future is pivotal. We need to make sure that we manage our electricity network in a way that facilitates customers to have solar panels, electric cars and community energy. We want our customers to be active energy citizens and more and more people want to be a part of a proactive and energy-efficient community.”

Claire and her team are confident that they are ready for these exciting new developments.

“We can see what is coming which means we can forecast what we need. We are building the systems and processes to enable further renewables and the move towards a low-carbon future. We are engaging with the energy industry in general as well as our customers to make sure that our system facilitates what they need and what they want to do. We are excited to play such a central role in helping the nation move towards a low-carbon future.”

To find out more please visit the ESB Networks website.

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