The approval marks as the first step in a series of planning consents for a proposed 200km subsea and underground electricity interconnector
The 500MW Greenlink Interconnector project will connect the power markets in Ireland and Great Britain. (Credit: Sebastián Faune/Pixabay.)
Greenlink Interconnector has announced that it has secured planning consent from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority for a portion of the onshore works related to the 500MW interconnector project between Wales and Ireland.
The approval marks as the first step in a series of planning consents for a proposed 200km subsea and underground electricity interconnector connecting the power markets in Ireland and Great Britain.
The authority’s development management committee has given its approval for the application for the project’s underground cables and associated works between the Welsh landfall site at Freshwater West to the boundary with Pembrokeshire County Council.
The interconnector project includes a subsea and underground cable and associated converter stations to connect EirGrid’s Great Island transmission substation in County Wexford, Ireland and National Grid’s Pembroke transmission substation in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Greenlink has submitted two separate planning applications to Pembrokeshire County Council, which is scheduled to consider them at its Planning Committee on 28 July.
The applications are for the installation of cables to the substation at Pembroke Power Station and for development of a converter station has been submitted.
Greenlink Interconnector is expected to be fully operational in 2023
Greenlink Interconnector CEO Nigel Beresford said: “From the outset we have placed the feedback received from all key stakeholders, including the local community, at the heart of our design decisions to ensure that the Greenlink interconnector is well designed and a good neighbour to the residents living near it.
“We are particularly aware of the importance of Freshwater West to local residents, recreational users, businesses and wildlife and have taken great care to find engineering solutions to ensure that the dune system and beach remain untouched throughout construction.”
The company, which is developing the privately-financed project, said that the application for onshore works in Ireland is currently being prepared.
Slated to be fully operational in 2023, the €400m project is expected to have a three-year construction programme that is expected to provide valuable local supply chain opportunities.
In November last year, Greenlink submitted its first planning applications for the subsea electricity interconnector on both sides of the Irish Sea.