EirGrid has announced it will use a 400KV underground cable option for the Kildare-Meath Line (KML).

This underground section will join overhead lines from Moneypoint in Clare to Dunstown in Kildare and Woodlands in Meath.

The North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC) has said using an underground line for Kildare-Meath makes a mockery of North-South interconnector project.

Uproar

NEPPC stated that it is appalled by the ‘total contradiction’ in EirGrid’s arguments and decision making criteria between the KML and the second North-South interconnector.

The construction of a new 400KV overhead line is being planned for the second North-South interconnector. Meanwhile, undergrounding will be used in the Grid West project and the Celtic interconnector on arrival into Ireland.

“The communities we represent are in uproar over the hypocrisy of the contradictory statements being made depending which project is being justified. The basic principles of a democracy are being openly usurped,” according to the NEPPC.

Technical difficulties

Michael Mahon, chief infrastructure officer at EirGrid, said it is not technically possible to put the project underground.

“The new overhead line is the only solution that’s there. We’ve engaged with the public; we’ve carried out studies that demonstrate that it does not have any effect on the public.”

Major infrastructure projects in EirGrid’s core €4bn ‘Grid 25 strategy’, which were all planned to be overhead lines and pylons, are now either cancelled or set to be undergrounded, except for the second NSI.