Mr. Nigel Hillis:

I wish to respond to Deputy Helen McEntee. She mentioned that every year the North-South interconnector is not built means a cost of €30 million. Figures from €25 million to €30 million have been bandied about. Replies to parliamentary questions have stated it costs the consumer a certain amount of money. This is not true. The study states there could possibly be savings of between €25 million and €30 million, which would be a benefit accruing to the wholesale market. How much of this would be passed back to the consumer is anybody's guess. EirGrid states the operation of the east-west interconnector has resulted in a saving of 7% to the wholesale market, but I do not see a decrease of 7% in my electricity bill. In fact it is increasing.

Senator Landy asked about the latest technology and he mentioned Germany. In Germany there is a massive discussion about rolling out a new grid of thousands of kilometres. There are three or four transmission system operators in Germany and between them they propose that more than half of the grid will be built using HVDC technology, both overhead and underground, because it is the best and most cost-efficient method of transferring power over long distances.