Ireland-Wales electricity interconnector up and running

A major new electricity interconnector linking Ireland and Wales is now up and running and has been officially launched in Co Wexford.

The 500-megawatt Greenlink interconnector will enable the importation of electricity into Ireland from Britain, and the export of any surplus renewable electricity from Ireland.

The interconnector will play a crucial role in enhancing energy security by diversifying sources power and enabling greater competition.

Over time this is expected to help reduce wholesale electricity prices in Ireland.

It is also critically important in achieving Ireland’s climate commitments because it enables the importation of lower carbon electricity from the UK and beyond.

The greenhouse gas emissions associated with the supply of electricity from the UK to Ireland is not counted as emissions in Ireland.

Official figures show greenhouse gas emissions from electricity in Ireland fell by 17.2% in the first six months of last year. That was on top of a separate 20% reduction in electricity emissions in 2023.

The biggest factor driving these emissions reductions was a sharp rise in the net importation of electricity from the UK, the emissions from which are not attributed to Ireland.

The UK supplied a total of 14.4% of all the electricity consumed in Ireland through electricity interconnectors during that six-month period alone. That was up 84% on the same period in 2023.

This means electricity imports from the UK are now the third-largest source of electricity in Ireland, after electricity generated from wind and natural gas.

The new interconnector has enough capacity to supply electricity to 380,000 homes.

It is considered one of Europe’s most important energy infrastructure projects and took ten years to deliver, between its development and construction.

It involved the laying down of a 190km-long high voltage electricity cable between Pembrokeshire in Wales and Great Island in Wexford.

160km of that cable was laid under the Irish Sea, with the remaining buried underground on land.

The construction phase of the project took three years, and was completed last year.

Now, having completed its 60-day regulatory trial, it was officially launched by Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien at an event in Enniscorthy this afternoon.

Minister O’Brien said said that the project highlights the value which which international energy collaboration can bring.

“Increased electricity interconnection will be a key enabler in our growing use of renewable energy, facilitating the delivery of the necessary infrastructure to support our energy ambitions in our journey to a net-zero power system. Interconnection will also play an important role in our transition to become a net energy exporter, making Ireland central to wider European energy plans.

“The role of interconnection is a large part of our wider energy ambitions,” he said.

Partners Group, one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, recently agreed a deal to sell the newly completed Greenlink Interconnector in a €1 billion deal to Baltic Cable AB, a European interconnector operator, and Equitix, a London-based infrastructure investor.

Greenlink Chief Executive James O’Reilly said: “The last number of years have shown it is vital for all European countries to have a diversified energy mix, and this interconnector will bring benefits for Ireland, Britain and the wider European community.”

Greenlink chairperson Padraig McManus said: “Interconnectors like Greenlink will become critical infrastructure assets providing export capacity and further integration with the wider European energy market.”