Landfall location

Following a review of the coastline from Rush to Bettystown, an area north of Balbriggan has emerged as the most feasible area to bring the cables on shore.

Many factors were considered such as local appropriateness and the need to avoid disturbance to the foreshore or coastline. A decision has been taken that there will be no grid facility between the road and the coast as it would not have been visually appropriate.

Cables will come onshore under the coastline to the north of Balbriggan. While the cables will land here, their presence will be concealed due to the availability of HDD (see below for HDD technology) which removes the need to disturb the coastline.

Factors considered in this decision included available lands, fisheries, road network, existing services and geology.

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD)

Both open cut and trenchless drilling were considered in this project. Trenchless is the most appropriate option as feedback from our engagement process was that people would rather not see the coastline disturbed. We are confident that this methodology can be applied.

Onshore Grid Facility

A grid facility will be required in the area as part of the infrastructure needed as part of this project. A decision has been taken to not have any infrastructure between the road and the coast. Therefore, this facility will be located to the west of the road R132. This is required not only to facilitate the transmission of the electricity from the wind farm to the connection point, but it will also strengthen the electricity grid in this area.

Cable Route

The proposed cable route will go around the north of Balbriggan, follow local roads wide enough to minimise the need for closures, cross under the M1 and arrive at the grid connection point at Belcamp.

Connection at Belcamp Substation

EirGrid has specified that NISA’s grid connection point is at Belcamp Substation. Belcamp is a facility on the national grid with great connectivity and capacity.

EirGrid Functional Specifications

NISA must also be cognisant of the relevant EirGrid Specification which outlines the basis for the design of the cable route and specifies that “Underground cables shall, as a standard, be routed within the reserve of public roads.”

In addition to these points, our assessments to date have taken account of several different factors including:

• Future road upgrades
• Impacts of traffic management during construction
• Existing services
• Active Travel initiatives – possibility of creating cycle paths as part of the reinstatement works
• Environmental consideration
• Existing infrastructure
•  

More detail on the proposed route is available on our Virtual Consultation Room.