POWER CUTS may have to be implemented in Connemara if the existing supply network is not upgraded, the ESB has told a planning hearing.
Presentations made by ESB Networks at the first day of a Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Maam Cross, Connemara, also argue that “lessons have been learned” from a previous planning application for the upgrade.
The board’s original plan to erect a new 110 kilovolt overhead power line west of Galway city, upgrading the existing 38 kilovolt network, was rejected three years ago by the planning appeals board.
An Bord Pleanála upheld objections of local residents who had appealed on environmental grounds.
The new 48 km (30 mile) “northern route” has been submitted by ESB Networks directly to An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Infrastructure Act. The hearing, which opened in Peacock’s Hotel, Maam Cross, yesterday, includes provision of Irish language interpreters.
The new route extends from Lenabower, west of Galway city, to Screeb substation in Connemara. It passes runs through the Connemara bog complex and Lough Corrib candidate special areas of conservation. A number of the 100 kilovolt powerline structures will be within Natura 2000 sites.
Submissions have been made by State bodies, including the ESB, Galway County Council, the National Roads Authority, Fáilte Ireland, the Department of the Environment, Údarás na Gaeltachta, and the Western Regional Fisheries Board.
A number of residents groups and individuals, including environmental consultant Peter Sweetman, representing An Taisce, have also made submissions.
Jerry O’Donoghue of ESB Networks, who was one of more than a dozen ESB representatives giving presentations, said there was “nothing particularly unusual from a technical point of view” in relation to the project.
The existing 38 kilovolt network could “not adequately sustain” the demand for electricity across west Galway, Mr O’Donoghue said.
There had been no drop in demand in the area and it would require a downturn of almost 40 per cent to achieve a fully operable network with the existing system, he added.
The capacity shortage had resulted in poor quality of service, excessive power cuts and inability to supply future demand, he said. He discounted arguments by appellants that renewable energy could be a viable alternative, noting that wind energy was “neither reliable nor dispatchable”.
The hearing is expected to continue until the end of the week, and the case is due to be decided in July.
