Listen: underground power lines not an option – EirGrid chief

From dealing with calls for civil disobdience and bearing the brunt of regular landowner anger, the chief executive of EirGrid is rarely out of the public eye. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal in Dublin Castle last week, Fintan Slye said he hopes the semi-state company will be able to address landowners’ concerns over the North-South interconnector so effectively that there will not be any issues of civil disobedience over its construction.

Last December, following An Bord Pleanála’s decision to grant planning permission for the southern section of the interconnector, Government chief whip Regina Doherty said: “We are about to enter into a phase of civil disobedience to hamper the decision made by An Bord Pleanála and I fully support the farmers and landowners in that action.”

Slye told the Irish Farmers Journal that EirGrid “hopes it will be able to work with people and communities and that there won’t be any issues of civil disobedience”.

Listen to an interview with Fintan Slye in our podcast below:

Listen to "CEO of EirGrid on opposition to N-S interconnector" on Spreaker.

The CEO also said he was “delighted” to get the planning permission for the southern element of the interconnector, although he highlighted that the project, which will connect the electricity grids of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, still has to go through the planning process in the North. A decision on this is not expected until the end of 2017.

If the planning application is successful in the North, the interconnector will result in the construction of a new 400kV overhead line from a planned substation in Turleenan, Co Tyrone, to a substation in Woodland, Co Meath.

The pylons will run through Monaghan, Cavan and Meath in the Republic, and Armagh and Tyrone in Northern Ireland, providing a second high-capacity electricity connector between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

In the Republic, the interconnector will run almost wholly through agricultural land, with the most affected farm types being beef and sheep.

Local opposition from landowners and farmers has been fierce, with objections ranging from the impact on Ireland’s “clean and green” image to temporary loss of land, risk of animal diseases and disruption arising from use of access routes for construction. The objectors would like to see the route put underground.

Slye, however, said this would be cost-prohibitive and the type of current used for underground lines would not be as reliable as the type used for overhead lines. He also said EirGrid is committed to working with landowners to minimise disruption where lines cross their land.

“As one group said to me, the landowners didn’t invite us to come,” he said. “We’re there looking to put infrastructure on people’s land – it’s disruptive in terms of the process of construction but they’re also left with the structure on their land and that all needs to be compensated and we understand that and are committed to working with landowners and their representative organisations to make sure that is done appropriately.”

Compensation packages range from €30,000 for a pylon 50m away from a residence, going on a sliding scale down to 200m. However, for landowners, the range of compensation measures will be more site specific, according to An Bord Pleanála’s inspector’s report.

In numbers

135km

The interconnector will be a 135km long 400 Kilovolt (kV) overhead line running through Monaghan, Cavan, Meath, Armagh and Tyrone.

7,000ha

Development in the Republic will affect around 400 landowners, with a total area of 7,000ha. It will cause short-to-medium-term damage to soils on 97ha and result in the clearance of 14.6ha of commercial forestry.

€33.6m

Some €33.6m from consumers’ electricity bills has been spent on the southern section of the interconnector to date.

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EirGrid CEO: we hope for no 'civil disobedience' over N-S interconnector