ABB wins €300m interconnector contract

Imera Power, the company behind two planned undersea electricity cables between Wales and Ireland, has chosen ABB as the winner of the Public Procurement for the East-West Interconnectors.

The total estimated value of the contract for both cables is estimated to be over €300m.

‘After a long and extensive review of all submitted proposals, we found the ABB HVDC Light technology to be very strong in our prioritised areas of need,’ said Rory O'Neill, CEO of Imera Power.

The Imera Power East-West Interconnectors will be the first to link Britain directly to Ireland, providing a flow of 350MW of power per cable from the UK to Ireland.

Construction agreements will be finalised once the necessary EU exemptions have been granted. These exemptions allow for direct charging to cable users for the construction costs, rather than including it into the domestic tariffs on the main grids.

The East-West Interconnectors are designed to supply the Irish market with energy generated in Wales. With a predicted shortfall of 1300MW of electricity by 2009 in the Irish market, the interconnectors are an important step towards securing the supply of energy to the Irish economy.