The first interconnector cable between Ireland and the UK has been completed. It cost €600 million to install and can transmit 500MW of electricity between the two countries.
The cable is expected to benefit the wind industry in Ireland who will now be able to buy electricity from the UK on calm days, and sell their own wind power to the UK when they produce surplus amounts.
The cable has also been hailed as the first step to a European supergrid which will enable European countries to trade energy.
Ed Davey, the British Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said that "the East West Interconnector is not just an impressive feat of engineering. It also brings multiple benefits to the British and Irish economies."
"This new connection between our electricity grids will improve our mutual energy security, it will improve competition - bearing down on the price ultimately paid by consumers - and it will allow more of Ireland's abundant wind energy access to the massive UK customer base."
By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More