In 1929 the hydroelectric station at Ardnacrusha and the new national grid came into operation. This massive project was called the the Shannon Scheme and focussed on connecting the urban areas first.

ESB was established two years earlier in 1927 and at that time only 45,000 homes were using electricity, supplied by a a local authority or private company. Electricity supply was unreliable, expensive and out of reach for most.

ESB set about acquiring the local energy providers and over time upgraded, extended and connected the local systems to the grid as part of the Shannon Scheme work.

By 1946, although almost all towns and large villages were connected, two thirds of Irish homes still had no electricity or running water. These were the 400,000 homes scattered across rural Ireland. In 1946, ESB’S Rural Electrification Scheme began to connect these homes scattered throughout 792 rural areas.

A rural area covered, on average, 25 sq. miles and included one or more rural parish. It took 18 years to connect all of the 792 areas. The Rural Scheme ended in 1964 but a second phase was approved to provide people, who missed out first time around,  with another chance to apply for a subsidised connection.

Subsequent extensions were added to scheme which continued in patches right up to 1978 when the last locations were connected. By 1978, ESB had connected over 1 million homes, or 99% of the population, in every corner of Ireland.

As customers and the demand for electricity grew additional power generation stations had to be commissioned. This included new hydro stations on the Liffey, Lee and Erne rivers and a range of peat stations opening over the country, particularly in the midlands.  See chart below showing ESB’s portfolio of stations 1927-1980.