Interconnector would lead to efficiencies - report

The long-planned and controversial North South interconnector would lead to a “more efficient transmission of electricity” on the island of Ireland, as well as lowering the costs of generation, Ireland’s leading economic think-tank has claimed.

The new paper published by the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Shared Island Unit at the Department of the Taoiseach sets out that both the Republic and Northern Ireland now share many of the same energy goals, namely to operate on 80% renewable energy by 2030.

The ESRI states that the interconnector is a critical piece of infrastructure in ensuring that happens and added that, if energy polices North and South align, large battery sites will be needed to absorb excess and feed it back into the grid when demand increases.

The interconnector project proposes a new 400 kV overhead line connecting grids through counties Cavan, Monaghan, and Meath in Ireland, and Armagh and Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

Mooted first more than a decade ago, the interconnector project has been bogged down by legal challenges and delays since.

In December 2016, An Bord Pleanála granted planning approval for the section in Ireland. This was subsequently the subject of judicial review but the project has now cleared all the planning and legal hurdles in the Republic.

In Northern Ireland, the Department for Infrastructure approved planning permission in January 2018. This planning approval is now subject to judicial review.

Local campaigners continue to lobby against the project - insisting it be undergrounded.