Eirgrid has abandoned plans to build a €215 million network of pylons from Cork to Kildare to boost electricity supplies across the State.The semi-State company with responsibility for the national electricity grid said reduced demand for power means it no longer needs to build a new overhead network or install underground cables, which would have cost more than €643 million.Instead, it plans to boost its existing network by retrofitting pylons and electricity substations with a technology known as “series compensation” which allows more power to flow through the lines, and will cost less than €157 million.
Back in July, Irish Energy Blog highlighted the fact that the original demand projections for Grid 25 had not materialized :
In normal economic projections for projects, if the projections don't materialize, then the project is dropped or at least scaled down.
Well it looks like Eirgrid have now changed their tune and realized that their original project was based on over-estimated demand :
The pylons proposal was developed in 2008 at a time of “Celtic Tiger demands for power” which were no longer there, Eirgrid chief executive Fintan Slye said.
On one hand we have the government telling us to cut down on electricity use with low energy bulbs, pre pay meters and high prices, while on the other hand we had EirGrid telling us we need more cables to carry extra current. It cannot be both. It was all to feed an ignorant obsession with producing more and more electricity, like addicts. I hope they are heading for cold turkey.
ReplyDeleteWell Val, there is a left hand and right hand situation. In the left hand, SEAI promotes installing low energy devices and building insulation to reduce the national electricity consumption, and on the other hand the Department of Enterprise attracts construction of 3 new datacentres with a combined electrical consumption of 900MW to increase the national consumption by 20% or more. Could it be a case of having your cake and eating it?
DeleteI am not sure, however if I use the same approach to other matters, we would need an aeroplane which could fly east and west at the same time, You could pop into Tesco to buy a tin of beans or you could pop into Tesco and get them to buy your tin of beans. Aldi could sell all their stock to Lidl while Lidl sell all their stock to Aldi and claim a sales boost. I would take a bullock to Kingscourt to sell and announce that if anyone bids, I will retaliate. As Margaret Tatcher replied when asked if there was anything she could not do?, Yes, I can't cancel my subscription to the Reader's Digest"
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