31 January 2018 - Element Power, the developer of the Greenlink Interconnector [1], has today welcomed publication by the Irish Government of a consultation on electricity interconnection [2].
The consultation sets out the strategic importance of interconnection to Ireland and the three pillars of its energy policy – sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness and recognises the benefits to the consumer “including lower long term costs of electricity”.
The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) is seeking comments on a draft national policy with the objective to augment policy clarity for developers and best serve the Irish public.
Commenting on the consultation, Mike O’Neill, CEO of Element Power, who will be speaking on Greenlink at the Irish Renewable Energy Summit in Dublin today, said;
“We welcome the Irish Government’s recognition that greater interconnection of power generation is important for national energy security, and cost-effective and sustainable power generation. We also welcome the DCCAE’s recognition that solid policy is vital to underpin investment that will benefit the Irish economy.
Our privately-financed Greenlink project connecting the Irish and UK power markets is strategically located to bring best value for money for consumers. It creates greater energy security for Ireland via access to UK and connected EU and Nordic electricity markets and will attract inward investment on both sides of the Irish Sea.
As an EU Project of Common Interest [3], it is already recognised as one of Europe’s most important energy infrastructure projects and has received approval by the UK regulator. We hope, therefore that the consultation concludes in a timely fashion to allow us to move forward as quickly as possible with our investment to the next stage of development, so that the significant potential consumer benefits are realised.”
Mike O’Neill is presenting: Greenlink: Facilitating Decarbonsation and Benefiting Consumers, followed by a Q&A discussion, at the Irish Renewable Energy Summit in Dublin today (31st January).
CONTACT FOR MEDIA ENQUIRES:
Anna Stanford, Communications Consultant, Element Power: Anna.Stanford@elpower.com Mobile: +44(0)7961 234634
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Greenlink Greenlink is a 170km interconnector stretching from Great Island in Co. Wexford to Pembroke in Wales. The link has a capacity of 500MW, equivalent to powering 380,000 homes* or 10 large data centres, and is a €400m privately-financed initiative developed by Element Power. It will stimulate inward investment and jobs and result in savings for Irish electricity consumers of up to €800m over the project’s lifetime. In October 2017, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) announced that it was directing EirGrid to progress to the next stage any grid connection applications for electricity interconnectors with European PCI status: Policy for Electricity Interconnectors 24 October 2017 https://www.cru.ie/document_group/policy-for-electricity-interconnectors/. *based on annual household use of 4200kWh (as per CRU’s decision paper published in March 2017 following its review of typical consumption figures (CER17042)) and estimated total flows from UK to SEM of 1,600,000 MWh/yr.
The DCCAE published its consultation on 30th January2018: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/energy/consultations/Pages/Draft-National-Policy-on-Electricity-Interconnection-in-Ireland-Public-Consultation-Aim-of.aspx
In November 2017, the Greenlink project was re-confirmed as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/infrastructure/projects-common-interest
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