Below is a selection of images and charts taken from our annual report from 30 years ago.

click on any image to begin slideshow

Cover of Annual Report for year ending 31 March 1986

Two vital cables connecting Dursey Island to the mainland: cable car and 10kV overhead line

Interior of the new Moneypoint Generation Station, 1986

Weekly system demand, 1986

Analysis of units sold, 1986

Opening of the new Moneypoint Generating Station, 1 Dec 1986

Constructing a 400kV line

Summary of ESB’s contribution to the Irish economy in the 1980s

Energy sources, 1977-1986

System daily load curves, June and December 1986

Screebe Generating Station, Co. Galway, 1986

Pollaphuca in the winter snow, 1986

A ‘watershed’ year

In many ways 1986 was a watershed year for the ESB, a year that saw the Board achieve certain goals and lay the foundations for others — goals designed to bring about new efficiencies in organisation and new standards of service to the community in the years ahead.

ESB announced two price reductions in April and December, our staff worked hard to restore power following a bad lightening storm in June, and sales rose 4% on the corresponding nine-month period in 1985. Moneypoint Station was officially opened in Clare on 1 December, the largest project of its kind in Ireland.

The national grid in 1986

Ireland’s Generation and Transmission systems, as of 31 March 1986

Map insert 1

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1986 Annual Reports

In 1986, ESB’s financial year (1 April – 31 March) was brought into line with the calendar year, meaning that the first three months of the year 1986 are presented in the Annual report 1985/86, with the last nine months in a separate 1986 report. A full copy of these reports, along with all our other annual reports since 1928, are available to download here.