IRELAND

IRELAND / ÉIRE.

Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme.
Opening of the Ardnacrusha Dam.
Stamp issued on 15.10.1930.
Face value: 2 Irish penny.
Printing: Typography.
Print: 19,330,805 copies.
Size: 41 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 55.
- Michel No. 55.
- Scott No. 83.
- StampWorld No. 59.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 92.
- Unificato No. 58.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 58.

The Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme, harnessing the power of the river's waters, was central to the development of the Irish Free State in the 1920s. Its main result was the Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric Power Station, commissioned in 1929, located in the County Clare (Irish: Contae an Chláir). Completed in the seven years following Irish independence (1922), at a cost equivalent to one-fifth of the Irish state's annual budget, the plant enabled a huge increase in electricity demand across the country. The plant was built by the German company Siemens-Schuckert, but much of the design was done by Irish engineers. The work involved major changes in the flow of the entire Shannon river with multiple dams and bridges, and the construction of a national electricity grid.