The GreenLink interconnector consists of two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables that reach over the Irish Sea that connect the grilles of Ireland and the United Kingdom to the Great Island substation in County Wexford and Pembroke substation in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
The Irish government announced that the GreenLink interconnector had started the activities after he recently started his commercial operational phase after a successful test period.
The project has a nominal capacity of 500 MW and consists of two converter stations – one in Pembrokeshire, Wales and the other in County Wexford, Ireland – connected by two HVDC cables. Onthore are buried the cables underground, with the offshore segments buried alternatively or laid on the seabed in the Irish Sea.
It was developed by GreenLink Interconnector Limited, a group owned by Partners Group. Siemens Energy and Sumitomo Electric served as an engineering, purchasing and construction (EPC) provider for the project. In addition to private investments, GreenLink has protected financing from the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility Fund. The European Commission has categorized it as a project of common interest (PCI), the term that gives the block to priority projects that connect energy infrastructure in the European Union.
The project took three years to build and will deliver both the VK and Ireland, depending on the offer and the offer at both locations. It is expected that it will increase energy security and facilitate the delivery of clean electricity for thousands of houses and companies.
The Irish Minister of Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O’Brien, described GreenLink as “a tangible expression of our always reinforcing energy relationship with the United Kingdom”, whereby “the value and benefits emphasize that international energy cooperation can bring.”
Greenlink has doubled the interconnection capacity of Ireland to 1 GW. O’Brien said that interconnection would play ‘an important role’ in the transition from Ireland to becoming a net energy exporter, which means that Ireland is central to broader European energy plans. “The role of interconnection is a large part of our wider energy ambitions,” he said. The 700 MW Interconnector project of Ireland that links its grid to the French grid is expected to be active in 2027.
Michael Shanks, the British Energy Minister, also spoke about energy security and the delivery of renewable energy.
“Het is belangrijk dat Ierland en het VK samenwerken om onze wederzijdse energiezekerheid te versterken en vooruit te rijden bij het bereiken van ons schone energiepotentieel. Deze kabel tussen Wexford en Wales zal helpen onze Clean Power 2030-missie te leveren en de hernieuwbare uitbreiding van Ierland te ondersteunen door ons toe te staan om meer goedkoper-gegenereerde schone energie met elkaar te ruilen om weg te bewegen van volatiele brandstofmarkt.”
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