The best partnerships generate positive energy all round.
So it is with EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, and An Taisce Green-Schools, the environmental management and awards programme for schools.
EirGrid is sponsoring Green-Schools to deliver the energy theme of its programme, which runs in primary and secondary schools across the country.
It’s all about helping youngsters to understand the journey to a low-carbon future – and the practical steps they can take to get there.
RM Block
As EirGrid transforms the power system for future generations, and Green-Schools empowers children to protect the environment, the two are the ideal ‘study buddies’.
EirGrid’s support allowed An Taisce Green-Schools to bring back the energy theme of its programme last year, having been powered down for a number of years for want of a sponsor.
It’s already having an impact. During the 2023-2024 school year, schools saved a combined 18 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to make 58 million cups of tea, due to their participation in the Green-Schools programme.
“At EirGrid, our role is to bring power from where it’s generated to where it’s needed,” explains Suzanne Collins, EirGrid’s head of public relations.
“In doing that, we ensure a secure and sustainable supply of electricity for everyone across the country as we transition to a low-carbon future, adding more renewables to the grid while ensuring we have enough electricity to support social and economic growth. We saw Green-Schools as an incredible opportunity for EirGrid to talk to our younger generation about these critical issues.”
The response from schools has been terrific. “There is a huge interest from young people right across Ireland in climate change and sustainability and how they can contribute to it,” she says.
Since Green-Schools was set up 27 years ago, it has reached more than four million students and more than 300,000 teachers. Currently 90 per cent of all schools in Ireland are actively involved in the programme, with more than 3,400 schools (out of a total of 4,000 in the country) having at least one green flag.
Last year some 40 schools took part in the Green-Schools energy theme and interest is growing, with 103 schools participating this year.
As part of its sponsorship, experts from EirGrid visit schools to talk about the work the grid operator is doing. “Students are really interested in renewables, in sustainability, and in our role in relation to offshore energy,” says Collins.
As well as ensuring such talks are suited to the age groups involved, they focus on local initiatives too, to make them even more relevant to the children.
“The students in Cork for example were fascinated to get insights into the construction of the Celtic Interconnector,” an electricity interconnector which will connect Cork to Brittany in France by subsea cable, she explains.
This sponsorship also supported a weeklong Green-Schools Festival of Energy, an online event packed with webinars in which EirGrid took part, providing a permanent resource for teachers, as well as talks about careers in this fast-growing field.
Regional workshops took place across the country, including in Carlow, Mayo and Athlone.
“It’s great for students to meet other students, creating a great buzz around the whole topic,” says Collins.
That matters for all our future. “The decarbonisation of electricity is critical to meeting our climate goals and, within that, everyone has a part to play both in conserving energy where and when they can, but also in understanding what’s required to transform the energy being transported on the grid, and the unprecedented amount of infrastructure required to make the transition,” she explains.
Ensuring schoolchildren understand this and indeed can explain it to their parents is vital, as any parent who has ever been upbraided for leaving a light on can attest. “Being able to go into schools and explain all this has a really strong multiplier effect in communities,” says Collins. “It’s why we are absolutely delighted to partner with Green-Schools.”
That delight works both ways. Green-Schools, which is operated in Ireland by An Taisce, is not just an environmental education programme but an environmental management system and an award scheme too.
Participating schools take measurable actions across a range of themes, including water, litter, sustainable travel, as well as energy, to win green flags.
The reason it is so successful is that it doesn’t just raise awareness among children, but teaches them the life skills – from team-building to project management – required to drive change.
“It’s why we are so grateful to EirGrid for coming on board to sponsor the energy theme which had been ‘on standby’ for the last number of years,” says Joanne Scott, An Taisce’s Green-Schools programme manager.
“We are so happy to be able to bring it back and to support schools both to reduce their energy use and to gain a wider understanding of energy. Since EirGrid came on board we’ve been able to update all of our teaching resources online, both in Irish and English, make lots of videos, and deliver 10 regional energy workshops around the country, including the kind of peer-to-peer learning students love. EirGrid also provides us with expert speakers which is really impactful,” she says.
Green-Schools will once again run its second Online Festival of Energy in February 2026, with daily live webinars schools can log on to.
As An Taisce is a charity, she points out, it relies on external funding to provide schools with the level of support it does.
“It’s why EirGrid is such a great fit,” says Scott. “Its core mission is to transform Ireland’s power system to a low-carbon future. That aligns really well with our energy theme’s goals of promoting energy awareness and conservation among young people, so that they can take action to reduce their energy usage in school and at home.”
