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Two Irish energy projects, in Co. Cork and Co. Offaly, will receive more than €4.5 million to explore the possibility of linking Ireland's energy grid with those of the UK and France, helping to end Ireland's energy isolation. The two EU funded projects are among 20 cross-European energy infrastructure projects to receive EU investment worth a total of €150 million.
The Celtic Interconnector Feasibility Study will look at building a 600km cable from Knockraha, Co. Cork to Brittany in France, with the capacity to power 650 homes. The feasibility project, run by EirGrid and French company Réseau de Transport d'Electricité, is eligible for up to €3.86 million EU funding.
ENERGY SECURITY
While the Greenwire Interconector study will explore the possibility of linking Ireland's grid to the UK, from Offaly to Wales. This project is eligible for up to €809,545 in EU funding and is run by Element Power Ireland. EU Commissioner for climate and energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, says ‘the completion of a truly competitive EU-wide energy market is essential in order to turn the Energy Union into a reality’.
“But without reliable and well-connected energy networks this will not happen. This is why we are investing in projects to integrate the market further and to diversify sources and routes"
11 of the 20 projects - selected via a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), an EU funding programme for infrastructure - are in the gas sector worth a total of €80 million. Nine projects are in the electricity sector worth a total of €70 million. 17 projects will require studies to be undertaken before work can take place - worth a total of €30 million, and three are construction works worth a total of €120 million.
The projects will increase energy security by contributing to the completion of an EU energy market and increasing the integration of renewable energy on the electricity grid. They will also help end the energy isolation of some EU countries from Europe-wide energy networks. The grants will cover a study into an undersea France-Ireland interconnector, work on a new overhead transmission line in Bulgaria, and an interconnector between Lithuania and other Baltic states, among other projects.
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