Irish-based energy infrastructure specialist Shanahan Engineering is planning to enter the race to build the €500 million east-west electricity interconnector that will link Ireland and Wales. Barry O'Halloran reports.
Chief executive Mr Liam Shanahan said this week that the company has made a formal expression of interest in the project to the Commission for Electricity Regulation (CER), which last month invited private sector submissions for building the interconnector.
The news of Shanahan's move follows the revelation two weeks ago that Northern Ireland-based Viridian is leading a consortium comprising Airtricity, Treasury Holdings and a group of Cork-based investors, South West Partners, which is also interested in the project. Viridian operates an electricity generating plant in Huntstown, Co Dublin. It built the Moyne interconnector which links Scotland and Northern Ireland. It sold this last year.
The interconnector is likely to have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts and it is estimated that at current prices, it will cost €500 million to build.
The Minister for Energy, Mr Ahern, has singled out the project as a priority and the Government favours developing it as a public-private partnership. It is scheduled to come on stream in 2010.
The CER is due to meet all the parties that have expressed interest within the next few weeks. Subsequent to that, it is likely to invite formal bids to build the interconnector. It is not known at this stage how many groups have come forward with proposals.
Shanahan is an Irish company that specialises in the design, construction and operation of electricity plants, and in the oil and gas infrastructure. The company has a presence across the world, and has offices in the US, Japan, India and China.
The small size of the domestic market means that its operations here are limited. As a result, the company has maintained a low profile herein the Republic. However, Mr Shanahan said this could be set to change as more opportunities open up in the field of infrastructure development open up.
Last year, Mr Shanahan was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year after winning a competition that is also supported by The Irish Times. He will represent Ireland at the world finals of the competition in Monte Carlo this weekend.
