Delayed interconnector ‘crucial’ to Ireland’s single market, industry warns

The heavily delayed interconnector project intended to link Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be crucial in making the single electricity market work more efficiently, the Irish energy sector has warned.

Speaking at an energy policy conference in Belfast, Utility Regulator chief executive Jenny Pyper said the country had been unable to secure the benefits of the single electricity market because of limitations on interconnection, and “the same will be true for the new market”.

“In order to be able to trade the electricity freely throughout the island… we need the second interconnector to be able to flow electricity and they’re designing a new I-SEM on the basis that that second interconnector will be there, and that the electricity will be able to flow,” Pyper said.

“For Northern Ireland we need it not just to make the market work sufficiently, but also to keep the lights on. It is the best, most cost-effective way of getting security of supply on an all-island basis, while also getting maximum efficiencies into the market too.”

The interconnector project is a proposed 400 kV development which will link the existing electricity transmission networks of Northern Ireland and Ireland between County Tyrone and County Meath. It will take three years and was planned for completion by 2017, but has since suffered major setbacks.

Speaking at the conference, chairman of the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Patsy McGlone pointed out that the Committee had warned a decision on the north-south interconnector was required urgently back in 2013, but “nothing has happened” since then and a “plan B” must be put in place to “provide security of supply from 2021 onwards”.

Director of operations, planning and innovation at EirGrid and general manager at the System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI), Robin McCormick weighed in on the debate, insisting the interconnector was the “single most vital and critical piece of infrastructure on the island at the moment”.

“It is absolutely key to our delivery of [security of supply],” he said. “It also improves competition… at the moment, the lack of a north-south interconnector means that customers are paying more than they need to.

“We also need an interconnector to support the level of renewables that we have on the system now and as it develops into the future. We’re looking for support from the industry, from business organisations and from the local area to ensure that that’s put into place.”

In June, EirGrid announced that it would submit an application for the southern half of the interconnector. The northern half is being tended to by SONI, with a separate planning application before the Planning Appeals Commission.