12 August 2024 Siemens Energy are preparing to start construction of a converter station in Ballyadam, Carrigtwohill. Work on the project is on schedule and the electricity from the continent is expected to start to flow into the Irish national grid by 2027.
The Celtic Interconnector is a planned subsea (undersea) link to allow the exchange of electricity between Ireland and France. Since 2011, EirGrid has been working with its French equivalent Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE)
The proposed subsea cable between Ireland and France would be about 500 km in length.
The existing substations at Knockraha, Cork in Ireland and La Martyre in France were identified as the best locations to connect to the existing transmission system in each country.
The converter station would need to be built in an area close to these locations.
The total length of the HVDC interconnector between the two countries would therefore be about 575 km. This includes the subsea and the onshore cable to the converter station.
The French electricity cable will run undersea from Brittany, northern France, making landfall in Youghal.
From there, it will run mainly along the verge side of the main Cork-Waterford road (N25) into Carrigtwohill and then onto Knockraha, where it will hook up to the national grid.
EirGrid expects to submit a planning application for the project to Bord Pleanála before the end of the summer.
The main elements of the Celtic Interconnector
are:
• A submarine cable, approximately 500km in length placed on or beneath the seabed between France and Ireland.
• A landfall point where the submarine cable comes onshore.
• A High Voltage Direct Current (DC) circuit between the landfall and a converter station.
• A converter station, to convert the electricity from High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) to Alternating Current (AC), the type that is used throughout the country and vice versa.
• An AC circuit between the converter station and the connection point to the grid.
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