Lyle,

I will check it out down here too with some contacts I have in ESB. I know we were definitely on 220/380 for a LONG time but references to 230V seem to emerge quite a while before they did in the rest of Europe.

I know the two companies have always had a very pragmatic and non-politically driven North-South cooperation based purely on common sense so it wouldn't at all supprise me.

What transmission voltages are used in Northern Ireland?

The transmission voltages in use here are:


400kV - operates out of Moneypoint, the largest station in the country only.

220kV - more widespread.

110kV - the original grid voltage going back to 1927

North-South interconnector: 275kV

Direct connections cross-boarder Letterkenny - Strabane at 110kV

ESB Networks Distribution:

38kV
20kV
10kV (being phased out)

Old ESB documentation describes

0,38kV/0,22kV ... obviously a bit of a Siemens influence [Linked Image]


All transmission networks (i.e. 110-400kV) are now all operated by Eirgrid... we have a rather strange setup... ESB retains ownership of the National Grid as an asset, but Eirgrid (another state owned company) controls and operates it... this was a tweek to comply with EU regulations while still keeping the grid public. The privitisation of ESB is quite unlikely at the moment due to the current state of the stock market worldwide and the lack of public apetite for it.

www.eirgrid.ie gives you a wealth of information including current system status, daily load reports, maps etc etc.

I was amazed they put so much data online



[This message has been edited by djk (edited 01-06-2004).]