€240m Eirgrid project to develop power grid in west

STATE COMPANY Eirgrid will launch a €240 million development project for the west of Ireland next week.

It is planning to develop the electricity grid in Co Mayo and surrounding counties in a project called Gridwest.

The plan will involve an investment of some €240 million to strengthen the existing power infrastructure in the region.

One of the main aims of the exercise is to underpin the region’s ability to attract investment that will lead to the creation of new jobs.

It will formally launch Gridwest next week.

The move will mark the start of a consultation process with residents, business and other interested parties.

The company launched a similar programme for the south and east of the Republic last week, which is valued at some €500 million.

Eirgrid, which is responsible for managing the national electricity network, published its annual report yesterday, which showed that the company’s operations made €30.3 million profits last year.

The company is waiting for a Government decision on a Meath-Tyrone power link which had to be abandoned after a planning hearing collapsed in June 2010.

A discovery that Eirgrid’s planning application included the wrong height of some of the pylons led to the collapse of the hearing.

Local interest groups, who say they are concerned about the impact on property values, health and the landscape, want the cables run underground.

An expert group appointed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, reported earlier this year that placing the power lines under the ground would add over €300 million to the project’s cost and would carry other risks.

Various parties, including Eirgrid, made submissions to a series of Oireachtas committee hearings on the issue.

The interconnector is vital to guaranteeing energy supplies to the region involved.

The Government is due to make a decision on the issue after the Minister brings a memo on security of energy supplies to Cabinet, which he is due to do shortly.

Eirgrid is in the process of putting in place a power link between Ireland and Britain, a link that will come ashore in north Co Dublin.

Cable-laying is due to being shortly, and the work will be finished by the autumn.

Following the completion of the project, which will cost in the region of €600 million, Eirgrid will consider developing further such links with Britain and France.