Electricity supply is going to be “quite tight” for the next two weeks, the Tánaiste has said.
Leo Varadkar said an amber energy alert could be issued due to low temperatures and low wind speed affecting supply.
But he moved to assure people that households will not be affected in the “unlikely” event that there is a shortage of electricity.
Concerns have been raised over the possibility of an amber energy alert being issued.
The alert warns of the potential for temporary electricity supply issues in the near future but there is no immediate impact on energy users.
Mr Varadkar said Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan briefed the coalition Government about the matter in the last couple of days.
“The projections indicate that the next two weeks are going to be quite tight in terms of the supply of electricity, largely because temperatures are going to be very low, and there isn’t going to be very much wind, so that means that there could be what we call amber alerts happening in the next two weeks,” Mr Varadkar said.
“But I do want to reassure people that in the unlikely event there is a shortage of electricity, and that hasn’t happened yet, the first to be affected will be the major energy users: the data centres that have their own back-up electricity.
“It won’t be homes, farms, small businesses.”
The Fine Gael leader added: “In the unlikely event, it hasn’t happened yet, where we go from an amber alert to a red alert and there isn’t enough electricity in the system, it is the large energy users, the data centres, that have their own back-up that will be called on to power down.”
Mr Varadkar made the comments alongside Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys at Hartstown Community Centre in Dublin where they announced funding of €33 million for 278 community centres across the country.
