Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

North-South Interconnector: County Monaghan Anti-Pylon Committee

11:30 am

Mr. Nigel Hillis:

It is 1,400 MW. Before this, there existed a total interconnection capacity from France and Spain of 1,400 MW. This project doubled the interconnection capacity to 2,800 MW, which members can see would be needed for countries the size of Spain and France. It was placed underground and it was necessary to drill a dedicated tunnel 8 km in length through the Pyrenees, which cost approximately €120 million to €130 million. The reason this was placed underground was due to public opposition that could not be overcome. It is an underground high-voltage, direct current, HVDC, line embedded into a high-voltage alternating current, HVAC, system.