HRH Prince Andrew opens Moyle Interconnector

His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, has officially opened the Moyle Interconnector during a recent flying visit to Northern Ireland.

Prince Andrew made a tour of the Ballycronan More converter station in Islandmagee, meeting with project staff before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the opening of the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) project, which links Northern Ireland and Scottish electricity grids.

During the tour, His Royal Highness also met with Dr Patrick Haren, Chief Executive of the Viridian Group plc and Alan Rainey, NIE Project Director.

Construction of the interconnector began in May 2000, and was complete by the end of 2001, before running in testing mode from January – March 2002. The project will now come into full operation.

The capacity of the interconnector is 500MW (megawatts), which is approximately the same as that of a modern-sized power station. The results of the interconnector capacity auction, held in December 2001, have resulted in 300MW of power to come from Scotland during summer 2002, and 400MW for the winter of 2002/03.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Haren, said: "The Moyle Interconnector represents £150 million of investment in Northern Ireland's electricity infrastructure. This interconnector links Northern Ireland to the electricity grid in Great Britain and, for the first time, brings real competition to the electricity generation market in Northern Ireland.

"Already local industry is reaping the benefits; Northern Ireland's largest businesses now have the opportunity to seek competitive deals from a range of supply companies for electricity imported across the interconnector."

The Moyle project forms part of a wider vision that includes enhanced interconnection with the Republic of Ireland, with NIE and ESB recently announcing the opening of three upgraded electricity interconnectors at Tandragee, Strabane and Enniskillen.

(CL)