22/02/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 21 February, the Irish transmission system operator (TSO), EirGrid, welcomed the EU’s decision on 17 February to allocate €4 million investment from the connecting Europe facility (CEF) to the Celtic Interconnector project between Ireland and France, piloted by the EirGrid and French TSO RTE. This project was selected by the EU as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) for infrastructure and involves the development of a potential electrical connection between Ireland and France, utilising subsea cables, with the capacity of approximately 700 megawatts (MW), enough to power 450,000 households. Upon completion of the “Initial Design and Pre-Consultation” phase in 2018, EirGrid and RTE, in consultation with the energy regulators, will decide whether to progress to the next phase of development. A final decision as to whether or not to proceed with construction of the project would then be taken in 2020/2021. Should it progress, the interconnector would go live in 2025/2026. (EH)