Consultation on vital Eirgrid plans coming down the line

Eirgrid is embarking on three projects vital to securing power supplies

The national grid is one of those ever-presents – things people don’t notice unless it stops working. Basically, it is the backbone of the system that delivers electricity from power plants to homes and businesses across the country.

If, for any reason, part of it stops working, people are left in the dark, literally.

If they haven’t already large numbers of people are going to be hearing a lot about the grid in coming months.

Eirgrid, the State company responsible for operating the grid in both the Republic and, through a subsidiary, in the North, is about to embark on three projects involving an investment of €1 billion.

Eirgrid chief executive Fintan Slye says the three will be vital to securing its future and power supplies for the next 40 to 50 years.

The three are (see panel below):

Grid West, connecting Bellacorick, Co Mayo, with Galway or Roscommon;

Grid Link, a “dog-leg” linking Cork, Wexford and Kildare;

North-South, running from Meath ultimately into Tyrone.

“The next four months are hugely significant in terms of the big projects,” Slye says.

Eirgrid is due to begin consultation on all three shortly and then move on to planning. The projects are due to be completed and on line between 2017 and 2020.

Slye concedes that the deadlines are ambitious but argues: “If we can get a planning decision and then clear access to land to build them, they are absolutely doable.”

A critical first stage is the public consultation. In less than a month Eirgrid will be talking to the communities in the west about possible routes for the lines it intends building there.

Over the last year it has been discussing the likely limitations – constraints – which could be any one of a large number of environmental factors, with local groups. In essence it has been asking people: “Where can we not go?”

Based on an analysis of that it is now going back with maps of potential route corridors.

Eirgrid is planning a similar approach with the Grid Link project, by far the longest and most expensive of the three at 230km and €500 million. It expects to apply for planning for both that and the west of Ireland project in 2015.

Initial phases

The applications go to the strategic infrastructure board of An Bord Pleanála. All projects are 400kv lines, which are carried on pylons rather than wooden poles. While communities have been supportive in the initial phases, Slye says that the closer to reality a project gets the more attention people are likely to pay.

“They do affect people and the communities that they go through,” he says. “The key is that there is a process by which all of those views are properly taken on board.

“We have an obligation to develop the transmission system in an economical way that is safe, secure and has due regard for the environment.

“We try to balance all of those things and, in doing that, we try to take on board the views of the community as best we can.

“What we do then is try and make our case to An Bord Pleanála’s strategic infrastructure board: everyone has an opportunity at that point as well to provide their views on our application.”

The case will involve explaining why a particular route was chosen, the rationale behind the technology involved, the impact on the environment and virtually all other aspects of the project.

The company has not encountered planning problems recently. The authorities have approved proposals for a number of 220kv stations in the Cork-Kerry area and 110kv lines – on poles – elsewhere.

Slye says that this all went through the system quicker than Eirgrid had expected.

The real acid test, however, will be the North-South link.

Almost three years ago a public hearing into the same proposal was abandoned after it emerged that Eirgrid’s planning application mis-stated the height of some pylons in the public notice – it said the range was from 23m to 37m high, whereas in fact it was 23m to 44m.

A number of local groups, spearheaded by the North-East Pylon Protest, opposed the development from the outset, saying they wanted it placed underground.

Two reports found this was not feasible. Even so, the opposition could claim that events at the hearing vindicated its position.

Technical issues

After its election in 2011 the Government appointed a commission to look not just at the North-South link, but energy infrastructure projects generally

According to Slye, that concluded that while “putting it underground is potentially feasible, there are still some technical issues with it, but it is significantly more expensive”.

So pylons it is.

Eirgrid is going back into public consultation in mid-April and hopes to submit a planning application by the end of the year.

The opposition may have been quiet, but it is still there, and Slye is under no illusion that it will resurface once the process kicks off again.

“We recognise that there are strongly held feelings about this line among the local communities along the route,” he says, adding that ultimately all views will be aired during the planning process, which is almost certain to involve an oral hearing.

At this point Eirgrid will be looking to talk directly to landowners about the location of towers along the proposed route, to ensure that they can be put in places that are the least intrusive.

In terms of the broader picture, the Government’s independent commission recommended a system of “community gain”. Eirgrid is working with the Department of the Environment and Local Government on this.

The rationale is that it is hard for a community affected by something like the North-South link to see the direct benefits.

“That the grid is more secure is a kind of difficult thing to put your finger on,” Slye says.

However, he is quick to dismiss any suggestion that this could be some sort of slush fund.

“It would have to be established on a national framework; it can’t just be us doing an individual set of things.”

It could involve measures such as Eirgrid identifying other lines and infrastructure that could be put underground in a bid to remove some of the clutter from the landscape.

Big three Eirgrid’s investment projects

GRID WEST

The Grid West project consists of a 400kv transmission line from Bellacorick, Co Mayo, to either Cashla, Co Galway, or Flagford, Co Roscommon.

Approximate cost: €240 million.

Approximate length: 100km.

The planning application is due in 2015 and it is expected to start operating in 2019. Eirgrid is going out to consult on the potential route corridors, which will be 1km or so wide, in the first week in March.

NORTH SOUTH INTERCONNECTOR

The North South project will link the electricity networks of the Republic and the North – from Turleenan in Co Tyrone to Woodland in south Co Meath.

Approximate cost: €280 million (€180 million Republic, €100 million North).

Approximate length: 140 km (105km in the Republic , 35km in the North).

Northern Ireland Electricity will handle the project north of the Border. Eirgrid expects to submit its planning application by the end of this year. It is due to begin operation in 2017.

GRID LINK

The Grid Link project is a 400kv line linking linking Knockraha in Co Cork, Great Island in Co Wexford, and Dunstown in Co Kildare.

Approximate cost: €500million.

Approximate length: 230km.

This is the longest of three, forming a dog leg from Cork through the southeast and up to Dunstown in Co Kildare, where an existing 400kv line from Moneypoint already terminates. Eirgrid expects to apply for planning in 2015. It is due to to begin operations in 2020.