Eirgrid plans to connect Meath, Kildare substations

Eirgrid is beginning a public consultation on a €110 million infrastructure project to transfer electricity to Meath, Kildare and Dublin from the west.

The company wants to connect the substations in Woodland, Batterstown to a substation in Dunstown, Co Kildare to strengthen its network to meet the rise in demand is from increased economic activity and the construction of new data centres.
The state company is considering both underground and overground options for the project, which will cost between €110 million and €190 million
Power is currently transported cross-country on two 400 kV lines from the Moneypoint generating station in Clare to the Dunstown substation in Kildare and Woodland substation in Batterstown.
EirGrid spokesperson David Martin said: “These two lines are over 30 years old and are carrying more power than ever before, particularly due to increased demand and the growth of wind energy in the south west of the country. Transporting increased amounts of electricity on these 400 kV lines could cause problems that would affect the security of electricity supply throughout Ireland, particularly if one of the lines is lost unexpectedly." 
EirGrid is weighing five options for the expansion, known as Capital Project 966, and which is expected to cost something €110 million and €190 million.

The project is at a very early stage of development and the five possible technology options include upgrading an existing 220 kV line to 400 kV; a new 400 kV overhead line; a new 220 kV overhead line; a new 220 kV underground cable, and a new 400 kV underground cable.
These options will be evaluated against a set of five criteria: technical, economic, environmental, deliverability and socio-economic.  
The public and other stakeholders can provide feedback to the project team which will form part of the overall evaluation. This first phase of consultation started a the weekend and runs for 10 weeks.
Feedback can be provided to the project team at www.eirgrid.com
The North East Pylon Pressure Campaign, who have been fighting EirGrid proposals for an overhead interconnector from Batterstown to Northern Ireland for over a decade said they were surprised to hear of the new project.
Noting that five technology options were being proposed for consultation with the public, chairman, Padraig O'Reilly said no options were ever offered for the North-South interconnector (NSI).
“One of the technology options is to use a 400kv underground cable. I gather the distance in question is around 60km. It is interesting to note that EirGrid stated for the NSI that the longest distance possible for such a cable was 10km. So is this proposal for project 966 just a sop, with no real intention of ever considering? If yes, is it being included as a PR stunt? If no, then the statements on the NSI are false.”
He said that socio-economic effects and deliverability had not been taken into account for the NSI and warned EirGrid’s current approach to that project will result in no deliverability.