Eirgrid and RTE ink first Celtic Interconnector agreement

Ireland’s electricity grid operator EirGrid and its French counterpart Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) have signed key technical and financial agreements for the Celtic Interconnector, touted as the first connection between the Irish grid and Continental Europe.

Contracts have been signed with Siemens Energy for the development of converter stations in Ireland and France; and French cable manufacturer Nexans, which will design and install the 575km cable between the two countries. Agreements have also been signed for €800 million ($843.6 million) of financing to be provided by the European Investment Bank, Danske Bank, Barclays and BNP.

The project will strengthen the security of the electricity supply in both countries and facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources into the European electricity grid.

The interconnector will have a total length of 575km, of which 500km of cables will run through the Celtic Sea. Over such long distances, electricity can only be economically transported in the form of direct current.

Both can convert alternating current, as fed into the stations from the respective national grid, into direct current for transportation and vice versa. In this way, the converter stations enable the bidirectional exchange of up to 700MW of electricity, corresponding to the supply of around 450,000 households.

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The critical nature of the project has been recognised by the EU which has partly funded it and designated it a Project of Common Interest (PCI). A PCI is an infrastructure project that links the energy systems of EU countries and provides access to financial support through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) – a fund to develop Europe’s energy, transport and digital networks.

Siemens Energy will build two converter stations at the end points of the interconnector – one near Knockraha, located in the County Cork region of Ireland, the other one near La Martyre in France. They will also supply High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) tech.

“We absolutely cannot afford to waste electricity from renewable energy sources. Every spare electron of renewable energy that can be shared with others brings us closer to our climate goals,” said Tim Holt, member of the executive board of Siemens Energy.

“The increasing interconnection of European electricity grids enables consumers to benefit from a more open electricity market, higher energy security and lower electricity costs. It demonstrates that only together we can manage the energy triangle of affordability, reliability and security.”

Working towards a carbon-free Europe, the EU has set a target that each country should aim for an electrical interconnection capacity of at least 15% of its installed production by 2030. In 2021, 16 countries reported being on track to reach that target by 2030 or have already reached it.

Energisation of the interconnector is scheduled for 2026.