Gridlink options to be ready by year-end

By the end of the year, Eirgrid will identify one proposed underground and one proposed overground route for its €500m upgrade of the electricity network from Cork to Wexford to Kildare.

According to Eirgrid, the proposed underground route will be fully underground and will not run overhead at any point. It will also attempt to run the 400kv powerlines under existing road networks, as this would mean cables could be accessed more easily for installation and repairs. It also means that the massive infrastructure project could throw up endless traffic headaches along the route.

A report on these two proposed routes will be given to the independent panel established by the Government earlier this year.

The panel, consisting of chair Justice Catherine McGuinness, Prof Keith Bell, Prof John FitzGerald, Dr Karen Foley, and Colm McCarthy, will then analyse the Eirgrid study to ensure its “integrity” and report to Energy Minister Alex White on its “completeness, objectivity and comparability”.

A public consultation process will also be started by Eirgrid early next year with a series of open days along the proposed routes so local communities can make submissions.

Communities from Cork to Wexford and Kildare objected vociferously to Gridlink last year. Locals wanted the 400kv powerline put underground, but Eirgrid initially dismissed the option saying it would cost €2bn.

The debate culminated in the Government decision to establish an independent commission to examine the project.

According to the terms of reference drawn up by the commission, Eirgrid is to give the panel, “comprehensive, route-specific studies/reports of fully undergrounded and overhead options for each of the Grid West and Gridlink projects”.

The report will assess each option’s potential environmental impacts, technical efficacy and cost.

Having examined the report, the expert panel can also “provide an opinion” to the minister on how the findings of the Grid West/Gridlink project may be relevant to the North/South project which has already started and if they could influence its ongoing roll-out.

The overhead line option will be based on HVAC technology and may include reconstruction of some existing pylon routes and partial undergrounding for limited sections “where appropriate and feasible”.

The expert panel can commission its own work if it wants or if there is “any perceived deficiency” in the studies presented by Eirgrid.