Thermal vision technology from Teledyne subsidiary Flir is protecting a quarter of Ireland’s electricity grid from cascade failure blackouts.

Automated thermal monitoring is bringing early fire detection and continuous condition monitoring insights to a major Irish power station, where a fire could trigger a grid shutdown affecting up to 25% of Ireland’s electricity supply.

ESB Energy, working with Butler Technologies, has deployed an end-to-end thermal monitoring system using Flir technology. It provides real-time alerts, enhances engineer responsiveness and helps futureproof energy infrastructure as it transitions to green power.

On Ireland’s rugged west coast, Moneypoint Power Station, a legacy site refitted to operate as an oil-burning plant, is now setting a benchmark for safety and resilience. With an integrated thermal monitoring system in place, the site is changing how critical assets are managed. It is delivering round-the-clock visibility, precise early fire detection and actionable condition monitoring insights.

This installation is the first of its kind within Ireland’s national grid. It is reducing risk, protecting uptime and laying the foundation for a more stable transition to renewable energy. It offers a working model for future energy infrastructure.

Before automation, thermal inspections at the site were entirely manual. Engineers performed weekly walkdowns using handheld cameras, often capturing images and compiling reports long after any anomalies may have occurred. This meant critical alerts were delayed, and fire risks could linger undetected for days.

That’s now changed. With fixed thermal cameras continuously monitoring high-risk areas, the system delivers sub-second response times, providing automated alerts the moment abnormal temperatures appear. In safety-critical environments, such as turbine halls or substations, this swiftness can be the difference between a routine fix and a grid-threatening event.

It has already helped demonstrate the capability to initiate plant shutdowns within 15 seconds of fire detection, a requirement for preventing cascade failures that could disrupt almost half of Ireland’s grid, for which it offers a critical redundancy to bolster the system’s capacity when it is overworked, overloaded or simply undergoing necessary maintenance.

Beyond fire detection, the system provides always-on insight into asset health. Cameras monitor components such as transformers, cabling and valve actuators, which detect changes in heat signatures that may signal wear, stress or failure risk. With more than 16,000 reference points per image, these thermal feeds offer more granular data than traditional sensors or manual inspections.

Engineers on-site no longer need to rely on scheduled walkarounds or visual estimates. Instead, they receive real-time alerts, thermal imagery and exact location data, enabling fast, informed decisions without needing to interpret temperature deltas by eye. The site has ordered more cameras to build into this system and, with the learning that has come from the project, has pushed Butler Technologies to develop an application for ESB Energy shift managers to receive push notifications via SMS, email and though the app, for seamless cross-platform monitoring.

“This isn’t about replacing engineers, it’s about empowering them,” said John Free, senior account manager at Butler Technologies. “The shift is not about usurping skilled labour, but instead focused on enhancing it. With fewer hands on deck, this system becomes an extra set of eyes they can trust.”

One advantage lies in its end-to-end design. Thermal imaging, back-end software and user interface were all deployed in a unified way, enabling a seamless integration into the site’s existing video management system.

Alarms are instantly visible through the centralised platform. If triggered, thermal zones automatically expand onscreen, directing operators precisely where to look and act. Critically, thanks to the native architecture, there’s no third-party hardware to maintain or troubleshoot.

The system uses the Flir A500f and A70 thermal imaging cameras, with plans to scale to newer devices such as the A700f and A700f PT as the station prepares to onboard future infrastructure, including cloud-based monitoring and AI-driven anomaly detection.

While the station continues to operate as an oil-fired facility for now, it also serves as the national test site for upcoming renewable energy initiatives, which include offshore wind. That future-facing mission required monitoring that could evolve alongside it and better fit with Ireland’s largely green energy grid.

The system is already supporting exploratory work on AI applications, which include using visual monitoring to confirm valve positions or track operational trends across thermal patterns. These insights could help pave the way for predictive maintenance, remote inspections and safer operations at scale.

As national grids face increasing pressure to modernise, projects such as this demonstrate how thermal automation can deliver immediate gains in safety and reliability, all while laying the groundwork for smarter, greener energy systems.

This station is the first in Ireland to implement such comprehensive monitoring and one of the first in Europe to tie it directly into future renewable operations. It’s a showcase for how thermal vision, when done right, can go beyond temperature; it protects assets, accelerates response times and helps keep the lights on for everyone.

ESB Energy (esb.ie) has plans to hone the use of early fire detection systems. The system at Moneypoint Power Station (esb.ie/media-centre-news/ask-esb/moneypoint-power-station) has become a talking point within the organisation, which has led Butler Technologies (www.butlertech.ie) to develop a lead monitoring substation. This application monitors connection points in the substation and identifies failures. If successful, it has the potential to be rolled out to more than 500 substations in Ireland.

Founded in 1978, Flir (www.teledyneflir.com) is a Teledyne Technologies company.