The Government has approved a plan to construct two electricity interconnectors across the Irish Sea. The project will open the electricity supply market here to competition from Britain for the first time.
These underground cables between them will be able to carry 1,000 megawatts of electricity, which is just over 20% of the present national grid.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, wants the interconnectors to be 'constructed, managed and owned by the private sector'.
But if the private sector does not invest, the Minister will ask the Commission for Energy Regulation to run a tender competition to build and run the project. It is estimated it could cost up to €400m.
