Celtic Interconnector

[dan_b]

This is a new HVDC to link Republic of Ireland to France directly, without going via England.
700MW bidirectional due to be commissioned in 2027.
I guess my question is, why "only" 700MW - when you're going to all that trouble of building all that new DC infrastructure?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/202 ... ctor-deal/

[Mr Gus]

I'm confused as to why from (south) england to france is not happening yet from ireland is, ..context anyone, politics, abject stupidity or what!?

500+ km of cable, and one that is deemed a tiddler by modern standards, sitting on this for 9 years & counting as a plan) that is now 3 times the cost (ish) ..means it is doubtful.the iceland link of 1200 odd km is likely ever to happen.

So is there going to be a ban on any russian vessels to sea after this!? ..hmm new age, & new perceived threats

(incidentally the majority of uk fish is apparently russian vessel "landed" ..they were the first ones to go big, back in the early 80's dominating the scottish ports & killing off so much of our small boat fishing fleet, more threat wilfully ignored by British govt for decades)

[Oldgreybeard]

I'm confused as to why from (south) england to france is not happening yet from ireland is, ..context anyone, politics, abject stupidity or what!?

The first HVDC inter connector between the south of England and France was commissioned in 1961. We currently have two undersea cables IFA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC_Cross-Channel) and IFA2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFA-2) that run across the Channel from the south of England to France, plus another one, Eleclink (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ElecLink), that runs through the Channel Tunnel.

[Mr Gus]

but why run a longer "hose" than you need to?
It voids the interconecctability of everyone everywhere being able to take up the slack & is now nigh on costing costing 3x the initial estimate.
Madness prevails, why!?
Ireland, wales, uk infrastructure (which we already connect to ireland yes) .. channel hop, france ..surely!?

[Oldgreybeard]

but why run a longer "hose" than you need to?
It voids the interconecctability of everyone everywhere being able to take up the slack & is now nigh on costing costing 3x the initial estimate.
Madness prevails, why!?
Ireland, wales, uk infrastructure (which we already connect to ireland yes) .. channel hop, france ..surely!?

They are placed where they are because of the need to have large lumps of infrastructure at either end, with a fat connection to the grid, I believe. The cable is the easy bit, tends to get laid in a few days (I watched the Moyle inter connector cable being laid, took just a few days for the cable layer to plough, lay and bury the cable across the Irish Sea).

IFA is around 40 miles long, with around 30 miles of that being subsea. IFA-2 is longer, because that makes sense in terms of getting to grid infrastructure at either end.

The cables are the quick, relatively cheap and easy bit of these things, much of the cost is associated with the bits onshore at either end.

[Fintray]

but why run a longer "hose" than you need to?
It voids the interconecctability of everyone everywhere being able to take up the slack & is now nigh on costing costing 3x the initial estimate.
Madness prevails, why!?
Ireland, wales, uk infrastructure (which we already connect to ireland yes) .. channel hop, france ..surely!?

Maybe less hassle connecting between two countries in the EU rather than going through a non-EU country, a bit like they have done with direct ferries.

[Oldgreybeard]

Maybe less hassle connecting between two countries in the EU rather than going through a non-EU country, a bit like they have done with direct ferries.

I doubt it makes any difference for cables, TBH. It does for ferries because of the customs issues, that add to the ferry company operating costs, I believe.

One major issue for a France - UK - Ireland link is getting power across the UK from the south coast to somewhere like Wales, in order to link across to Ireland.

[Fintray]

Maybe less hassle connecting between two countries in the EU rather than going through a non-EU country, a bit like they have done with direct ferries.

I doubt it makes any difference for cables, TBH. It does for ferries because of the customs issues, that add to the ferry company operating costs, I believe.

One major issue for a France - UK - Ireland link is getting power across the UK from the south coast to somewhere like Wales, in order to link across to Ireland.

There must be some costs for using part of the UK grid to get it from France to Ireland or vice versa rather than going direct.

[Oldgreybeard]

There must be some costs for using part of the UK grid to get it from France to Ireland or vice versa rather than going direct.

Yes, probably the major part of the cost, as it would pretty much have to go right across Wales, from east to west, and my guess is that the cost of running cables there would be higher than going subsea directly.

Same goes for the Northern Ireland inter connector, the shortest sea route was from the Rhins of Galloway across to Donaghadee, but they opted to roughly double the distance by going from South Ayrshire instead, just to avoid having to run the overland cable section around Stranraer and over the Rhins, which would have been a lot more costly, I think.

[spread-tee]

Probably avoids getting tied up in planning issues for years on end too.

Desp