Eirgrid pays €4m maiden dividend

EirGrid has paid a maiden annual dividend of €4m to the Government on the back of seeing a 194% rise in profits last year and has expressed cautious optimism regarding progress on its contentious GridLink power plan.

The national grid operator’s latest annual report published yesterday showed an €80m increase in revenues to €622.1m and a jump in statutory pre-tax profits from €20.8m to €61.1m.

The results show a large positive effect from the one-year old East-West Interconnector, which links the Irish and British electricity markets. The cable contributed €34m to EirGrid’s overall 2013 profit and accounted for €50m of the €80m revenue increase.

EirGrid’s underlying profits — when temporary regulatory revenues, arising from the interconnector, are excluded — remained stable at €18.3m. The company’s management said that it now expects to receive terms of reference on the €500m GridLink project (boosting electricity capacity between Leinster and Munster) and the GridWest project (doing something similar around the Mayo/Roscommon region), from the Government-assembled expert panel “shortly“, after which EirGrid will return with its best over- and underground cabling/pylon options. The company is also awaiting clarification on whether the panel will be looking into the proposed North-South Interconnector, before it formally enters its planning application for the project.

Speaking yesterday, EirGrid CEO, Fintan Slye said the delivery of large-scale projects of the type planned is “difficult, but essential,” adding that the company is “cautiously upbeat” about progress.

EirGrid is also progressing on plans for an interconnector linking Ireland with France, saying it will begin a sea-based study either later this year or in early 2015, before taking a decision on commercial viability in 2016.

The company added that Ireland remains firmly on-track to meet its 2020 target of generating 40% of electricity from renewable sources, saying the current annual level is around 20%. It also said that overall costs for its total Grid25 project — aimed at future-proofing Ireland’s electricity needs — should still come in at around €3.2bn, €800m less than initially thought three years ago.