{"id":442654,"date":"2026-05-11T04:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/442654\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T04:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:15:10","slug":"ireland-france-electricity-cable-delayed-until-the-end-of-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/442654\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland-France electricity cable delayed until the end of 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new deadline for the Celtic Interconnector could be further extended as cable operations at sea are dependent on suitable weather conditions, the Government said.<\/p>\n

The 500km cable will connect Cork to Brittany, in northern France, and link Ireland into the French electricity grid. It will be Ireland\u2019s first direct energy connection with the EU since Brexit.<\/p>\n

The energy cable, a project jointly developed by EirGrid and its French equivalent, R\u00e9seau de Transport d\u2019Electricit\u00e9 (RT\u00c9), received \u20ac530m in EU funding in 2019, and was set to \u201cgo live\u201d in 2026.<\/p>\n

Delays with the project has continued Ireland\u2019s dependency on imported gas for electricity generation, wholesale prices of which have risen from the Iranian blockade in the Gulf, in retaliation to the US and Israeli war on the country.<\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency has estimated that the impact of reduced gas supplies through the Strait of Hormuz will last for another two years at least.<\/p>\n

Fuel protests highlighted vulnerability<\/p>\n

Fuel protests last month highlighted the vulnerability of Ireland\u2019s energy security<\/a>, when blockades were placed around Ireland’s oil refinery at Whitegate and other key ports, preventing the distribution of gas and oil.<\/p>\n

If the Celtic Interconnector became operational this year it would have supplied relatively cheap nuclear-powered electricity from France and provided some counter-balance to rising prices of imported gas, upon which Ireland\u2019s electricity generation depends.<\/p>\n

As reported in the Irish Examiner last month, and following queries on 16 April from Fianna F\u00e1il TD for Wexford\/Wicklow, Malcolm Byrne, the Government was unable to provide clarity on the completion of the Celtic Interconnector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week in the D\u00e1il, Energy Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien gave Roderic O\u2019Gorman, Green Party TD for Dublin West, an update on the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

He said that since construction commenced in November 2023, \u201dstrong progress\u201d had been achieved on both converter station sites and onshore cable installations and that land works in Ireland were \u201cexpected to be completed in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said marine cable installation began in 2025:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n This project is both significant and complex, operating within a challenging maritime environment heavily influenced by weather conditions.\n <\/p>\n

The minister said there was \u201cslower-than-expected progress\u201d in 2025, adding: \u201cCable protection operations and more challenging than anticipated sea-bed conditions were given as the main reason for the slow progress. Due to this, Eirgrid has advised that the Celtic Interconnector will be commissioned by the end of 2028.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a separate letter to Mr Byrne, EirGrid confirmed that the new commissioning date for the project is \u201cnow expected for Q4 2028\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter, sent in response to the April 16 D\u00e1il debate, added: \u201cAdverse weather conditions could impact this date if marine campaigns cannot be undertaken or completed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said that around 500 people were currently working in Irish and French waters and that a second marine cable had commenced off France in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

EirGrid said three specialist vehicles were currently carrying out subsea cable protection activities along the marine route, which was crucial in protecting the cables once installed.<\/p>\n

Cormac O\u2019Keeffe, Security Correspondent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new deadline for the Celtic Interconnector could be further extended as cable operations at sea are dependent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,8858,63615,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-442654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-energy-prices","tag-fuel-prices","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}