The energy secretary, Ed Davey, has given his support to the proposed ‘Greenwire’ energy development at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Brighton.
Davey was visiting the Greenwire exhibition with the Irish ambassador, Bobby McDonagh, as the UK and Ireland are working to agree a Memorandum of Understanding on renewable energy trading between the two countries. President and chief operating officer of Element Power, Mike O’Neill, and Tim Cowhig, chief executive officer of Element Power Ireland, told the ambassador and Davey about Greenwire’s capacity to bring 3,000MW of renewable wind energy directly into the UK National Grid from onshore wind farms in Ireland.
Davey commented, “This is an interesting project and I was pleased to learn more about it. I have asked officials at my department to stay in touch with Greenwire and keep me updated.”
O’Neill added, “We are delighted to have the support of the UK and Irish governments as we take forward this £6bn green infrastructure project that would provide 10,000 jobs in both countries, and reduce costs of renewable energy by £7bn to UK electricity consumers compared to offshore wind.”
