Overview
INEA Director Dirk Beckers, RTE Chairman François Brottes and EirGrid Chief Executive Fintan Slye signed today a grant agreement releasing €4 million of EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to complete the initial design and pre-consultation of the Celtic Interconnector.
From left to right: RTE Chairman François Brottes, INEA Director Dirk Beckers, Director-General of DG ENER Dominique Ristori, and EirGrid Chief Executive Fintan Slye
The Celtic Interconnector is the name of an EU Project of Common Interest (PCI) aiming the development of a potential electrical connection between Ireland and France, using subsea cables, with the capacity to transmit up to 700 MW of electricity, enough to power 450,000 households. The interconnector will also enable surplus of renewable energy to be transmitted to other locations where there is high electricity demand. The interconnector is expected to go live in 2025.
Parts of this project – the feasibility study, the initial design and pre-consultation – are co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The feasibility study (€3.8 million of EU funding) was completed in 2016 and included marine surveys, preliminary design studies as well as commercial, legal and governance aspects. The new funding (€4 million) will finance the next stage of the project and will cover the project’s detailed design, a public consultation, and preparation for its construction. This latest phase is expected to be completed in 2018 and pave the way to the construction of the interconnector.
The Connecting Europe Facility in the field of energy provides funding to infrastructure projects in electricity, natural gas and smart grids with the aim to better interconnect energy networks towards a single energy market in Europe. The programme supports the key objectives of the Energy Union by promoting further integration of the internal energy market, enhancing security of energy supply and integrating energy from renewable sources into the network.
Celtic Interconnector Feasibility Study
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