Ireland-U.K. Interconnector Project Begins

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Construction on the €600 million ($763.8 million) interconnector cable that will connect the electricity grids of Ireland and the U.K. started this week.

The East-West Interconnector project, which is being overseen by Ireland's state-controlled grid operator EirGrid (Dublin), is a 500-megawatt (MW) link that will be capable of transporting enough energy to power 300,000 homes when it is completed at the end of next year. The project involves the laying of 180 kilometres (km) of undersea and approximately 80km of underground cables to enable the flow of electricity in both directions. Over the next eight months, the cable laying ship, Nostag 10, will lay the cable from Rush in County Dublin to Barkby Beach in Wales.

The cable laying comes just months after energy ministers from the British Isles, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man signed the "All Islands Approach" agreement regarding energy resources. The agreement will push for more interconnectors between the islands to increase market integration and improve the security of supply across the British and Irish electricity markets. For additional information see June 23, 2011, article - Britain and Ireland Sign Agreement for 'All Islands Approach' to Energy.

"Witnessing the laying of the marine cable across the Irish Sea is symbolic of linking Ireland, a geographically isolated Island, to the single European energy market, which will ultimately benefit all electricity consumers and generators," said Irish Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte. "The interconnector will improve security of supply, as well as increasing competition and assisting in achieving our ambitious renewable targets. I am delighted that EirGrid are on track to complete the project within budget and on time, by the end of next year."

The interconnector will result in greater security of electricity supply for Ireland and will increase competition in the sector, as different suppliers from the U.K. will be able to enter the Irish market. More importantly, it opens up the possibility for Ireland to become a power exporter to the U.K.

The Irish Wind Energy Association (Naas, County Kildare) estimates that Ireland has a wind generation potential of 6,000 megawatts (MW) from onshore and 4,000 MW from offshore, to meet its European Union (E.U.) 2020 renewable targets. Ireland needs less than half of that each year, which leaves up to 5,000 MW that could be exported to the U.K. At current electricity prices, this would be worth €1.6 billion ($2.3 billion).

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