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.
