⚠️ Storm Éowyn - Fri 24.01.25 (**Please read Mod Instruction in OP.**)

Did some googling after learning this fact a few pages back. Shocked (Baduum Tish) to learn it as initially it didn't seem to make any sense. Like how TF does it make sense not to be able to use Solar and Battery in the event of a power cut!!! Quickly learned about the safety issues for Electric Network workers of home Solar and Battery systems feeding power back onto the supposedly non Live grid sections they might be working on. Also the issue of Firefighters needing to be able to quickly and easily disable power to a burning house before they go in to fight the fire. (Hence Fireman Switches)

When I eventually get around to installing Solar and Battery I'll probably spend the extra in an inverter that you can plug some stuff into during a power cut but probably won't bother going to all the extra wiring and switch hassle to 'Island' the whole system from the Grid in order to keep the whole house powered up and Solar generating and topping up the battery during a powercut. We just don't get powercuts often enough or of long enough of a duration to make it worth all the effort.

What I will probably do which touched on your point about a Battery not having much juice to last too long in a powercut anyway, is to follow the advice of some Irish posters on this subject elsewhere who quickly realised it made financial sense to double their battery capacity. Their regret being that they didn't buy double the capacity in batteries from the outset where they would have saved the VAT on the second 5kWh Battery which they didn't save by buying it later. Unless I misunderstood them, the second battery meant they could run the house for a day cheaply even with little solar generation due to clouds because they were topping up the batteries with cheap Night Rate Electricity and discharging them on the cloudy days to power the whole house. The side benefit of that being in the event of a powercut you also have enough battery capacity to run/recharge a few essential items from the inverter sockets for several days during a power cut.

Thankfully in our case we wouldn't need to run electric heaters off that which would quickly deplete even a large capacity battery setup. Victorian house which we left 2 open fireplaces in. Would just need to light some fires. Also blessed that although only the Attic and ground floor slab is well insulated, the uninsulated 2ft thick walls have huge thermal mass, every window and door is DG, one window and patio door is East facing with the vast majority on the South facing side and the Bays and front door on the West facing side so we have massive solar gain considering this is Victorian house. Luckily we are end of terrace on the right end of the terrace. LOL. Long thin mid terrace Victorians look so depressingly dark when you look in their windows when walking past! The most surprising thing is looking at my self installed Hive setup graphs. Middle of Winter and the house only drops 1 degree between the heating going off around 10-11pm and coming back on at 7am. AFAIK thats BER A rated levels and yet if we had a BER inspection the house would probably get a D or an E!!

The biggest expense for me installing Solar and Battery is not going to be battery capacity, its going to be that 24 panels for 5Kwp on the south facing side of the roof potentially wouldn't get planning anyway but even if it did would definitely look like Ass on this Victorian roof facing the street, hence I will probably end up spending the extra on Slate affect Solar Roof tiles (just not the ones made by Herr Musk. LOL) Thats all work for another decade though. LOL.

One Solar website with a Postcode checker said our south facing roof was suitable for a 24 panel 5kwp setup like I mentioned earlier. Said it would be €6000 after grant and payback time would be 4.5 years. Website probably didn't take into account the 2 Velux on that side of the roof so could probably fit a few less panels than the site said, but on the other hand Solar roof tiles having more coverage and wrapped around the South West ish facing side of the roof probably make back up for that. I guess I'll make the jump when Solar Roof tiles come down in price from multiples to 'Only' 2x the cost of conventional panels and when the current roof slates and old decaying non breathable Bitumen roof membrane need a refresh anyway. So I'll probably join the Solar gang in the early 2030's…but need to start Saving now! LOL.

Interesting, thanks! Pretty much confirms what we said yesterday, that for the most part (and not meaning to downplay it's affect in Galway/Clare) this turned out not to be the modern equivalent of Oíche na Gaoithe Móire as some models were hinting at, but just a high end winter storm comparible to what were a fairly regular occurance in the 20th century

Locally in north Dublin it was a complete non-event, just a regular windy night and a breezy morning with some moderate gusts.

Not funny at all. Wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I recall having no water after the big freeze back in 2010 and it was a wretched four days somewhat helped by my great neighbours.

Was the 183 at Mace highest recorded gust? Did we get the missing data?

It really was an incredible storm. A level above anything I have seen before. The aftermath is very grounding.

Finally got in contact with my sister in Sligo. Some wild stories to tell. Apparently Tubbercurry was completely cut off with roads blocked, power and mobile masts down, no internet either! Her village, Cloonacool is pretty much the same but the road to Sligo town where she works was cleared and that's where she got her phone signal back. We are all worried about her as she is never one to not post rubbish in the family Whataspp everyday but silence was not golden in this case.

She told a mad story, apparently after it all died down she went for a walk with the kids to see the damage around and she spotted a help sign in one of her neighbors windows. An old lady lives there and her oxygen tank was running low so she thought she was going to die. My sister arranged an ambulance for her so shes fine now but could have been a sad story. Hopefully there isn't many like that old lady in communities hard hit from this storm.

"as a spanish storm approaches ireland" says the Newstalk newsreader

Well done to your sister, you'd like to assume that she was the first to see it

Poor lady must have been so afraid

There’s so many without water because the water treatment plants have no electricity. Would it not make sense to have back up generators at these plants?

Back online after a night in Athenry I'd never so again. We are still out of power and signal so came to town to charge the car and devices. No damage to the solar panels but few houses got seriously battered with slates and smashed windows. Checked on the mother in law about 10mins away and the drive there was like the aftermath of something I'd only seen on TV! Trees down, power lines down.. my folks garden got ruined (smashed glasshouse) and something from the neighbours garden blew in and smashed the back door.

Stay safe everyone

Power check is giving me tomorrow night 9 as a restore time but this happened during the snow storm in November where we got a restore time but it was slower and longer to come back.

I want to move into the city into a hotel room.

I was able to find internet, coffee and a hairdresser to get a wash&blowdry in the city 😁 and going home now to no power. I would prefer to stay in the city having some drinks but sadly I need to return. I have a gas cooker so that helps and I buy bottled water every week and stack up. Just for these type of instances.

Nr Oranmore - Clarinbridge & Kilcolgan look to be completely without electricity. We've had no signal or power since the storm. Oranmore has power, but signal coverage is very spotty.

Lot of trees splintered and taken down telegraph poles with them.

I am in Connemara and same - power, water, phone - all down.

If the weather isn't too bad tomorrow, I may pack a bag and book a hotel room in the city.

Weather gone miserable today, wet, breezy, cold - sh1t for anyone without power and/or heat and/or water again this evening. For frail, homebound elderly and their carers it's worse than that. As well as the cold, many will be using hospital beds with inflatable pressure distributing mattresses. From what I can see of our one, they deflate rapidly when the compressor stops and there is no manual valve to close to retain the air. There is some foam in the mattress but its not comfortable once deflated. Other equipment they may be reliant on include hoists (has a battery but how long is it going to last if not charged every night) and electric recliner chairs to get their feet up for circulation during the day

Thank goodness I have a wood burning stove, though not enough fuel to see me through. ESB estimate restoration at 9 pm tomorrow - wonderful.

Still no electricity. At least my phone coverage is finally but my battery is about to die:) I definitely have had my fill of storms for a while now. Fog and frost next week never sounded so good!