Interconnector - Closer ties with nearest neighbour

The East-West Interconnector was officially opened yesterday at Batterstown, Co Meath, where the Irish national electricity grid joins the interconnector.

The project, which begins commercial operations at the start of next month, involves the largest energy infrastructure built in this country since the opening of the Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric power station in 1929.

The interconnector involved the laying of 186km of undersea cable in a trench running from North Beach in Rush, Co Dublin, to Barkby Beach in northern Wales. A further 80km of cable was laid underground — 46km of which was from Rush to Batterstown — linking the two converter stations on either side of the Irish Sea.