UNDERGROUND CABLES are cheaper to build and more reliable than overhead ones, an inquiry into the proposal by Eirgrid for a second North-South electricity interconnector was told yesterday.
Prof Friedhelm Noack of the University of Technology in Illmenau, Germany, who is an expert on electricity grids, said underground cables were also safer than overhead lines.
Prof Noack is the author of the Askon Reportcommissioned by the North East Pylon Pressure group, which opposes the plan for an overhead line to link grids in the North and South.
He told the Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the Eirgrid proposal that underground cables of the length required for the Meath-Tyrone interconnection development were technically feasible and could be integrated into the grid without operational restrictions.
Outlining his contention that underground cables were safer, he said: “No electric fields are emitted from the underground cables. Importantly, the electromagnetic field is greatly reduced in a short distance from the cable.
“Underground cable routes can, if necessary, be placed within 11-17 metres from dwellings versus 95 metres for overhead lines, in order to comply with the precautionary values of electromagnetic field exposure levels, as applied in some other European countries.”
Prof Noack also criticised the cost calculation of the project saying he had costed it at €8 million, as opposed to the €30 million estimated in a report for Eirgrid.
Ross Shorten of Lisney Chartered Surveyors and Property Consultants criticised the environmental impact study (EIS) carried out in relation to the proposed interconnector.
He told the hearing, which is taking place in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, that compensation for the anticipated diminution in property value was not taken into account in the Eirgrid submission to the hearing.
“The EIS fails to provide An Bord Pleanála with an assessment of the cost of compensation for the proposed overground development in comparison with the much more reduced compensation cost of putting the proposed development underground in whole or in part,” he said.