Eirgrid plans ‘most radical upgrade since electricity invented’
EIRGRID is to install up to €2bn worth of new electricity pylons, cables, substations and converter stations across communities and countryside over the next 10 years.
The company says the project is “the most radical transformation of the grid since electricity was invented”.
It is beginning a 14-week public consultation on the plans, presenting different options for how to proceed and anticipating the controversy some projects are likely to generate.
“We know that grid infrastructure projects lead to robust and emotive debates,” the company says.
“Communities expect compelling and persuasive reasons for disruptive change.”
Eirgrid says the reasons are compelling. Electricity demand will increase by 50pc by 2030 due to growth in population and industry and the switch-over from fossil fuels to electric heating and electric vehicles.
The existing electricity grid, which includes 6,600km of overhead and underground cables, is not strong enough to handle the extra load.
The extra electricity is to come from renewable sources, mainly wind and solar, which is generated at different frequencies and times.
The existing grid does not have the flexibility to manage the variety.
There is also a mismatch between where most renewable energy is generated, in rural wind farms in the west, and where it is mostly used, in the built-up east coast.
Eirgrid says it can take four different approaches to transforming the grid, with the number of major infrastructure projects ranging from 38 to 77 and the cost from €500m to €2bn.
It is not in favour of the current ‘developer-led approach’ where developers decide where to build wind farms and solar parks and the grid must stretch out to meet them.
But issues also arise if a ‘demand-led approach’ is taken where high energy users such as industry and data centres are made to locate near sources of power, which are often in remote areas.
A ‘technology-led approach’ would rely on continually boosting the existing grid so power generation and use could locate anywhere – but this is difficult, costly and would require multiple large converter stations.
A ‘generation-led approach’, where government dictates where power producers locate with emphasis on off-shore wind in the Irish Sea and solar in the south-east, is favoured.
But Eirgrid says as everyone in the country will be affected, it wants as much input from the public as possible.
Chief executive Mark Foley said: “This transition to clean electricity will affect everyone in Ireland will unquestionably be difficult. However, the benefits will be truly transformative at both a societal and an economic level.”
A recent ESRI study found widespread opposition among the public to having wind turbines or pylons anywhere closer than 5km from homes.
Plans to build the NorthSouth interconnector using a string of high-voltage pylons through Monaghan, Meath and Cavan faced mass opposition in those counties.
Climate Action Minister Eamon Ryan urged people to consider what was being proposed. “Climate change is one of the starkest challenges we face and Ireland is currently lagging far behind on our emissions targets,” he said.
“In the coming decades we will be electrifying large parts of our economy, including our heating and transport systems, so building a grid that can handle a high level of renewables will be critical to our success.”