The Government is holding joint gas and electricity emergency training exercises to get ready for any supply shortages.
While they say significant disruption is unlikely, repeated concerns have been raised about the possibility of blackouts.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications says the purpose of the exercises on September 9 and 16 is to test a co-ordinated response to any major incidents across the electricity and gas networks.
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While they have been carried out in the past, officials say they will also reflect “a broadening of the scenarios under consideration”.
Dr Muireann Lynch, a senior research officer at ESRI, recently warned that no one can guarantee power shortages can be avoided.
She said last week: “Supply on the system is the tightest it’s been for a good while and while the expectation is always that there will be no blackouts, historically we have operated the system far more reliably than targets suggest.
“What I would say is a lot of it comes down to the wind and a lot of it comes down to whether or not customers can shift their demand from the peak times.
“If there are interruptions, they’ll almost certainly occur at peak times.”
Fears about blackouts as a result of increasing demand on the outdated system are not new.
But households are already facing a bleak winter because of rising fuel costs that sparked a coalition of 42 charities and civic groups to call for emergency measures including an increase in welfare payments.
These emergency exercises to stress test the impact of any grid shortages will involve key stakeholders in the energy sector, including Gas Networks Ireland, EirGrid, ESB Networks, and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
A DECC spokesperson said: “Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid have robust procedures in place to maintain security of gas and electricity supplies, and regularly participate in simulation exercises to test a range of potential scenarios.
“The role played by these bodies is critical, in ensuring a coordinated response to major incidents, in the rare event that they might occur.”
If such circumstances arose, the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications is the lead Government Department and would convene and chair the National Emergency Coordination Group in the National Energy Coordination Centre to coordinate the Government’s response to the energy emergency.
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