A five-week public consultation process to establish the best site for a new substation required for EirGrid’s Fingal to East Meath Grid Reinforcement Project draws to a close tomorrow. The project is designed to accommodate the continued growth in electricity demand in the region and involves the development of a new transmission interface substation and associated connecting circuits in the North Dublin area which will connect to a substation in east Meath.
The primary function of the new substation is to facilitate power flows between the transmission and distribution systems to enable power to be distributed to where it is needed, explains EirGrid chief infrastructure officer Michael Mahon.
East Meath and Fingal are among the fastest growing areas in the country, and with this growth comes a greater requirement for electricity, he adds. “The whole Dublin area is growing. Business growth, new housing developments and increasing population are all driving the demand for electricity upward. This is particularly true for North Dublin where projects like the Metro and Dart+ will create further demand for electricity. At the same time, new residential developments will require new grid connections while the electrification of heat will see demand grow as well. The electricity supply in north Dublin is not sufficient to meet that demand. The distribution system will need new connections to meet it.”
He compares the electricity transmission system to a motorway network and the distribution system to the local roads that connect to it. Substations are the equivalent of roundabouts and other interchanges that allow traffic to exit motorways on to local roads.
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The Fingal to East Meath Grid Reinforcement project will provide connectivity to the proposed East Meath-North Dublin 400kv underground circuit and the East Meath 220kv substation.
Planning permission has been sought for that new circuit which will run from Belcamp in north Dublin to Batterstown in Co Meath. When complete, it will upgrade and strengthen the electricity grid in the east of Meath and the north of Dublin to improve the transfer of power across the existing transmission network.
The purpose of the current public consultation process is to help identify a suitable site for the new substation. It will also help to decide on which technology to use for the substation — gas-insulated or air-insulated switchgear. That technology choice matters as it will influence the eventual size of the substation.
In parallel with the public consultation, EirGrid’s agricultural liaison officers have been engaging with landowners to discuss potential site locations and assess their interest in providing a site for the substation.
The public will have more opportunities to make their views on the project known. “Once we identify suitable areas for the substation, we will explain to the public how the circuits will come out of it. Getting public, stakeholder and local authority input will be very important for us. The quickest way to develop infrastructure projects like this is in conjunction with society. The next public consultation on the project will be on the circuit routing, particularly on how it might impact the local road network. That won’t be until the third quarter of next year at the earliest.”
He emphasises the importance of the project, describing it as the cornerstone of the future power network for North Dublin. “Not only will this project enhance the local grid, providing capacity to support increasing electricity demands to enable local economic growth and housing it will also help the country reach its renewable energy targets. Lots of new generation is being brought on to the system and we need to get it to where it’s going to be consumed. The connection to the 400kv underground circuit is very important. That is the highest voltage we use in Ireland, and it allows us to transport large amounts of power over greater distances. We connect that to 220kv, 110kv, and 38kv circuits, and then step it down to the 220v that we use in our homes. By moving some demand out of the existing Finglas substation we will also create some spare capacity there for the rest of Dublin.”
Once the final route has been identified, EirGrid will apply to An Comisúin Pleanála for planning permission under the Strategic Infrastructure Development process. “That will be a third opportunity for the public to have an input,” he notes. “We hope that we will have secured good support for the project by the time we get to that point. That should be in early 2026 and construction work should start in 2027. We are ideally targeting 2030 for delivery. It’s going to be a big challenge to get it done by then.”