There are public tours of Ardnacrusha Power Station running from now until September 4, these are free and must be booked online

EVERY time you switch on a kettle, charge a phone or put on the washing machine - give a moment’s thought to the ingenuity of one man and his vision to make rural electrification in Ireland a reality.

Walking around Ardnacrusha Power Station on a summer public tour, it’s like stepping back in time, as many of the elements have been there for a century.

Using four turbines, more than 99% of the power station’s work is to keep the water moving in the River Shannon, alleviate floods and allow salmon to pass through.

The six imposing gates on the river can withstand 1.1 million cubic metres of water coming at them, a tour guide explains.

Every second, the Ardnacrusha Power Station allows a minimum of 10 tonnes of water to pass through to Limerick city.

Plant manager Brendan Shine explained that the hydro-electric plant aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and their clean energy production should achieve this.

“I’ve no doubt we’ll get there,” he said with certainty, as the civil engineering manager Declan Quille added that they have clear goals to meet between now and then.

The Shannon Scheme in Ardnacrusha was the brainchild of Thomas McLoughlin from Drogheda, who was inspired by his time in Bavaria and study of power plants when working for German firm Siemens-Schuckert.

His vision was to develop a national electricity network, which would reach every city, town and village and he noted this in a journal: “the people in our remote villages must have the comforts which villagers in other lands enjoyed.”

In June 1925, the Shannon Electricity Bill became law and the Government signed a contract with Siemens-Shuckert.

The scheme at Ardnacrusha Power Station employed over 5,000 people including 1,000 Germans during the construction phase. In total, 43 people work there now.

The original railway tracks still lie at the bottom of the canal.

Declan Quille, said: “When you think about it, they were a bunch of 30-year-olds and they decided to build this plant - it’s inspiring.”

He added that if the power plant didn’t generate a single megawatt, they are still bypassing water from the flood prone areas of the lower Shannon.

Mr Shine added: “People think we just generate power. What they built 100 years ago was a marvel for its time.”

Through the Parteen hatchery, which was built in 1958, more than 95,000 young salmon made their way to the Atlantic Ocean last year.

There are also plans to install AI cameras, which will distinguish between different species of fish.

Mr Quille explained that when people see the banks beside the river, which span 9.5 miles, they see mounds of earth.

“We have two bank rangers who walk those banks every single day, sections of that left embankment are 17 metres high and those rangers use 160 instruments to test everything looking for cracks, subsidence, or a hole from an animal burrow.

“If there is an issue, we will action it and even though there is no dam safety legislation in Ireland, the ESB has its own based on the UK model and we are independently reviewed by experts in Austria,” Mr Quille explained.

Ardnacrusha Power Station is open for public tours until September 4. These are free, but must be booked online.