Electricity imports may rise to 25%

Dublin: Ireland’s imports of British electricity may rise to 25% of peak needs by September 2012, when a 500-megawatt inter-connector is scheduled to be completed.

The cable’s capacity represents 12.3% of Ireland’s average weekly peak power demand of 4,060mw over the period from 2008 to 2010, according to data from the Irish transmission system operator Eirgrid.

Capacity sales on the East-West Interconnector will begin in the second quarter of 2012 before flows commence by the end of September 2012. Another cable, the Moyle Interconnector, already connects Ireland and Britain and has a capacity of 500mw. The combined capacity of both links is about 25% of average peak consumption.