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No, I think trams were operating on 650VDC right from the beginning of electrification in 1897. We have a real mixture of power systems in public transportation here, 650VDC catenary (Tram), 750VDC catenary (subway line U6, former Stadtbahn, though the cars can operate on tram lines as well), 750VDC 3rd rail (other subway lines), 950VDC catenary (suburban train to Baden near Vienna, dual system cars to operate on both 650 and 950V), 15kVAC catenary (suburban train system operated by OEBB (railway company)). 650VDC seems to be pretty common for trams in continental Europe, Munich just stepped up to 750V about a year ago.

I notice on that 1930 map of the grid there are some VERY European specs:

110kV Overhead Transmission lines
38kV " " "
10kV " " "
110kV / 38kV Sub-station
38kV/10kV Sub-station
10kV/0,38kV/0,22kV Sub-station

(strange way of writing 380V/220V !)

So by 1930 the modern system was pretty much in place. (the only changes were the addition of 220kV and 440kV transmission and more 38kV replacing 10kV)

In 2003 the Shannon Scheme representes less than 1% of supply!

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 07-26-2003).]

Unless I'm mis-reading the lines, it looks as though originally there was just one major 110kV route running Dublin-Limerick-Cork.

Looking at the map, I also can't help asking what happened to Donegal? It looks like they ran HV as far as Sligo and then just stopped!

Or was Co. Donegal already receiving power from across the border at this time?

Paul,

Donegal simply wasn't on the grid at all at that stage! There was certainly no cross-boarder link. The BBC even went as far as to make sure that broadcasts didn't "over spill" too far by installing sheilds on the transmitters! The towns would have had local power generation systems on a small scale but the entire county wasn't wired up until slightly later. Donegal's extremely rugged and has narrow mountain passes some parts of the north of the county didn't get fully electrified until the early 1960s!!! At the time that map was produced it would have also had a very small population (less than 50,000 people in the area that wasn't on that grid)

And yup, there was just one big 110KV line linking Dublin with Limerick (Shannon hydrostations) and Cork

Dublin and Cork had signifigant power generation capacity at that stage. The main purpose of that 110KV line was to feed power from Ardnacrusha (Shannon Hydrostation) to Dublin and Cork and pick up the smaller towns etc en route.

The consumption of power at that stage was really low in compairson to modern times, most people running a few lights and a wireless (if they were lucky!) The only places in the 1930s that were using electricity for industrial reasons were in Dublin and Cork cities.

The population was pretty insignifigant too:

Total: about 3 million

Dublin was VERY small in comparision to what it is today (like 300,000 people!)

Cork was on a pretty small scale too and limerick wouldn't have classified as much more than a large town by European standards (still prob. doesn't)


Here's a quote from the ESB archive: (1930-40s!)

"The 85 MW of generating plant in Ardnacrusha was adequate to meet the electricity demand of the entire country in the early years. Sometimes especially at night in winter, water had to be wasted because the total system demand was so small"

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 07-26-2003).]

Ah.. I thought it might just be that Donegal wasn't high on the list of priorities at that time!

For anyone who isn't quite sure which part of the map we're talking about, Donegal is right up in the far northwest, only connected to the rest of the Irish Republic by a panhandle:

The blue section is Northern Ireland, still part of the U.K.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 07-28-2003).]