MORE than thirty power maintenance workers awaited the ferry from Fishguard this morning (Wednesday, October 18) as they set off to help restore power to homes in the Republic of Ireland following Storm Ophelia.

36 linesmen from Western Power Distribution embarked on the 11am ferry for Rosslare to help restore power to the thousands of homes left without power in Ireland.

A spokesperson for Western Power Distribution said: “As part of a long standing agreement called NEWSAC, Distribution Network Operators such as Western Power Distribution (WPD) offer assistance to provide mutual aid to each other in emergencies.”

The 36 “linesmen” were selected from the whole of the Western Power Distribution region which includes the Midlands, the South West of England, and South Wales, equating to nine linesman from each region.

36 members of staff is much less than Western Power would normally offer in an emergency but the company are preparing for the predicted bad weather next weekend as Storm Brian approaches the UK.

“The number of linesmen sent to Ireland is much less WPD has made sure that its own network has enough staff to cover any emergencies that might occur.

“We have a total of 200 linesmen working in and covering the South Wales area, they will be available and on standby should any emergencies happen,” the Western Power spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for StenaLine said: “In terms of ‘Storm Brian’, it is too early to make an informed judgment on its likely impact but we will be monitoring weather forecasts very closely in the days ahead.”

As Storm Ophelia battered Pembrokeshire on Monday, Western Power dealt with 288 incidents and restored power to nearly 14,600 customers within 24 hours.

The Ofgem standard restoration time is 48 hours for a category 2 storm such as Ophelia.