Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan, and French Energy Minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, have marked the initiation of construction work on the Celtic Interconnector project.
The Celtic Interconnector will be the first direct energy link between Ireland and France, running a 700-megawatt cable some 500 km under the sea from east Cork to the French north-west coast. A further 40 km of underground cable will be laid on land.
The project is being jointly developed by EirGrid and Réseau de Transport d'Électricité, the French electricity transmission system operator, with a target completion date of 2026, with integration to the grid expected by 2025.
“The acknowledgement of the project’s commencement took place at the EirGrid offices in Dublin, following a visit by Minister Pannier-Runacher to Ireland on November 13th, “the Department of Environment said in a statement.
“The start of construction on the project signifies an important step forward for the energy future of both countries,” it said.
The European Commission is contributing €530.7 million from the commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to help complete the design and delivery of the project.
Contracts for the Celtic Interconnector were signed in November 2022, in Paris. The decision to mark the start of construction coincides with a visit to Ireland by the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, to Dublin this week.