Infrastructure

EirGrid and road authority face off over plan for cables under roads

Former head of Irish Water has been brought in to lead working group to explore engineering solutions

Jerry Grant: the former managing director of Irish Water, has now been brought in as an independent expert to try to manage the dispute between EirGrid and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

A dispute has broken out between EirGrid and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) over proposals to lay new electricity cables under the road network, the Business Post can reveal.

The disagreement, which threatens to derail Ireland’s electricity climate targets and energy security, is over proposals by EirGrid, the grid operator, to use parts of the existing road network to lay high-voltage underground cables.

EirGrid claims that this infrastructure is essential to deal with growing power demand ...