Sustainability & Environment
For generations to come
Infrastructure
Changing our infrastructure
Electricity networks are a vital part of our overall economic development, and are increasingly key to the delivery of EU and national sustainability targets.
To achieve those targets, radical change is needed in the design, operation and embedded intelligence of electricity networks - a development sometimes described as Smart Networks or Smart Grid.
The networks of the future will need to be smarter, more accessible and more efficient.
We are currently implementing a state-of-the-art sustainable network to replace our entire infrastructure.
Networks are changing around the world
- The US has provided $5bn to promote its Smart Grid
- Remote meter reading
- In the EU, the SmartGrids Technology Platform has set out deployment priorities for Smart Networks
- Here in Ireland, many of the building blocks for Smart Networks are already in place or are being developed
What will it cost?
Electricity networks are complex and expensive to build.
In Ireland, because of our dispersed population, we currently have almost 200,000 km of transmission and distribution networks - nearly 4 x the European average per capita.
The investment value of our current system exceeds €600 billion.
An investment of €500 billion will be required over the next 20 years - on par with investment levels in the United States.
Investment from 2001-2010 will exceed €6 billion by the end of the period.