Vol. 530 No. 3
93 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the extent to which the national grid has adequate electricity reserves; if these reserves are sufficient to meet current and anticipated requirements and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3952/01]
I refer the Deputy to the replies I gave to previous Dáil questions on this subject on 19 October 2000 – Questions Nos. 77 and 79 – and 29 November 2000 – Question No. 68.
Eirgrid registered a new all time peak demand for electricity of 4000 on 16 January 2001. This represents an increase of 250 on the previous all time peak demand of 3750 recorded over a year ago in December 1999.
I confirm again that the growth in demand for electricity and the power supply situation generally continues to be managed competently by ESB and Eirgrid and no power shortages have occurred. Incidents of limited localised power supply interruptions have occurred but these are not unusual and have been caused by storm damage or the accidental severing of cables by construction workers.
