Powering Up Dublin

I don't believe that Option B is a good route for this work. The Clontarf to City Centre cycle way will only just be finished at the end of 2023. This route has entailed serious disruption to cycle and motor traffic, and engaging on a new works programme when the C2CC has only just been completed seems like a poor choice.

Additionally, closing sections of the Alfie Byrne road as well as the Clontarf Road gives no option for people on the north east of the city to access the East Link Bridge. 

 I live in Marino Dublin 3 for the last 29 years. It seems in all of the time that we are constantly under pressure from services to the city whether it be the port tunnel that caused extensive disruption 20 years ago to various utilities digging up the roads continuously. I appreciate and understand that Marino lies at the confluence of several  major arteries coming into the city - Malahide Road, Howth Road, the Clontarf Road; not to mention being close to Drumcondra Road, Griffith Avenue, Richmond Road.
We are now coming to the end of a very welcome and expensive upgrade to the bus corridors and cycle routes and Plaza and amenities space development in Fairview.
Marino continues to be under considerable pressure from motorists running through Marino despise lots  of mitigation and traffic calming measures being put into place. 
Hence imagine my horror when I look at option B on the proposed Finglas  North Wall connector to note that it runs along Alfie Byrne  road into Marino Mart and up the Malahide Road, as far as Collins Avenue. 
We really just cannot take anymore quite apart from the fact that works to the grid would be undoing millions of euros worth of recently installed infrastructure. 
Its not really any use is telling me that there won’t be disruption because inevitably there will as my experience living here for the last 29 years tells me.
I also don’t wish to be accused of NIMBYism  but our backyard in the Fairview / Marino area has had more than its fair share of disruption. 
Marino is celebrating 100 years next year as heritage gem  of past Dublin city council  planning. It would indeed be a great shame for those centenary celebrations to be marred by further infrastructural disruption.
An alternative route is imperative. 

Having reviewed the three options, a number of points should be considered when deciding on a final route.

Option A:

The section of the route running along the Finglas Road would need to ensure free flow of priority transport options (bus, cycle) during the construction phase.  However the road has sufficient width to allow this to happen.

The section from Prospect to North Strand will require digging up of a well-used walking and cycle way along the canal.  This is not ideal but if necessary, should be done within the timelines of the current plan to upgrade this section to greenway.  This is to ensure the greenway upgrade is not delayed any further by any requirements of this project, and vice versa.

If the section from North Strand to Sherriff Street requires digging up the recently completed and heavily used greenway, then this is not a good option.

Option B:

This option mostly utilises wide roads which, if they require excavation, can allow priority to be continued for sustainable transport during the road works.  For the narrower sections particularly along St Margarets Road and Malahide Road from Griffith Ave to Clontarf, care should be given to ensure this does not prioritise car traffic over bus/cycle traffic, eg by use of bus gates.  It is also important that existing sustainable transport infrastructure (eg cycleway along Alfie Byrne Road) is not used for the cut/cover sections, unless separate road space is given to replace this.

Option B is the best of the 3 options considered.

Option C:

This option requires extensive excavation in residential and amenity  (park, Royal Canal greenway) areas, and is not a good option due to the disturbance it will cause to local residents and users of the amenity.  It is also important to consider that this option may delay completion of important sustainable transport solutions (extensions to RC greenway) which is not ideal.

Route I is the only reasonable option as it minimises roadworks. 

Conleth College would be greatly impacted if this route is chosen. It is on the corner of Pembroke Park. Serious safety concerns for young people attending school. Also it will affect the amenity and enjoyment of those accessing Herbert Park and the roads leading to it. The tranquility of the park which is so important will be disturbed. The cricket club will also be impacted. There are many elderly residents living in and around Wellington Place and their daily activities would be greatly affected.

Option I should definitely be the preferred route as it's the option that will have least disruption to road traffic in South Dublin. 

Option G will cause severe disruption to cycles, motorcycles, cars, buses and the LUAS and is, by far, the worst of the three options.  Option H is somewhat better.  Option I is significantly better than either of the other two options and avoids disruption along half of the proposed route by going undersea.

My preference would be for Option I.  Option G will have a major impact on so many roads around Sandyford, Stillorgan, Goatstown, UCD & Woodbine, and then onto the Rock Road and Strand Road.  Option H will be a more direct route but will have a big impact on the Rock Road and Strand Road.  The Rock Road and Strand road have been very disrupted already this year and the knock on effect to cyclists, buses, cars and pedestrians has been very disruptive so we do not want these roads impacted again.  Option I, whilst still impacting Loughlinstown and Newtown Park Avenue, and part of Monkstown Road, will at least have a good part of it undertaken out to sea and underwater.  

We, RMLA Limited, are acting for our Client, Tesco Ireland Limited, Gresham House, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin in relation to this submission for the public consultation on the Powering Up Dublin by EirGrid. Please see attached document for further details. 

See attached

Do you have any local knowledge that might help our technical team in their investigations such as information on flooding, congestion or ground conditions?

From Oct 2022 to May 2023 Irish Water carried out major works on Beech Road, Sandymount. The inbound lane was closed. The result was major pollution on the Merrion Road and huge traffic jams causing people to miss flights/hospital app's/and anyone going northside and their journey doubles or trebled. 

Are there regular or annual major events, festivals or similar in our local area that you would like us to be made aware of?

Aviva stadium, rubgy already causes massive traffic merrion road, Ballsbridge, Ringsend, Beech Road. 
3 Arena major concerns/same as above
RDS Ballsbridge/same as above

Considering construction requirements, how can we help minimise potential disruption in your area?

Between Irish Water works and DLR cycle lane works on the Merrion Road during the past year the residents of South East Coast Dublin have had enough. Please not dig up Rock Road or Beech Road again. 

What is important to you in relation to transport in your area? For example, bus routes, bus connections, types of transport. 

DLR have just removed the outbound bus lane between Trimbleston Ave and Booterstown. This is causing huge traffic jams all day long and slowing bus journeys. 

Do you have any additional information which we should consider in the design or construction phase of the project? 

Across the bay to Poolbeg is the best solution.

1. SuperNode Response

1.1. Do you have any additional information which we should consider in the design or construction phase of the project?

Urban Congestion Challenges

The Powering Up Dublin project is an important step for Dublin. As the ‘Powering Up Dublin’ Consultation states “Dublin’s electricity infrastructure is ageing and reaching its end of life.” Congestion is already creating significant challenges to Dublin’s grid at both a transmission and distribution levels. Dublin’s grid needs to be updated and upgraded to replace old and ageing infrastructure but it must also be modernised to enable Ireland’s decarbonisation goals. As we bring more renewables onto the system and we continue to electrify more and more of our economy (transport and heat), urban congestion problems will continue to worsen.

There is already a limitation on new capacity that can be brought into Dublin. This limits our ability to construct new offshore wind generation in the Irish Sea, with limited available capacity to connect to our biggest energy consumers. This is a serious issue which could result in missed opportunities, missed targets, lower economic growth, security of supply risks, and could threaten to derail the green agenda.

Dublin grid congestion affects not only the Green transition, but the broader economic wealth of the state as well. We cannot locate any further data centers in the Leinster area because of grid congestion. We cannot electrify energy in Dublin because of insufficient grid capacity.

For all these reasons, ‘Powering Up Dublin’ is a critical project that must be planned and executed properly. This response seeks to ensure that Eirgrid have considered the best possible options and available technologies for the cabling to be used in the initiative.

Superconductivity

SuperNode would like to propose for consideration the use of superconducting cables as well as High Voltage XLPE cables with copper or aluminium conductors. Superconducting cables may not be appropriate for some of the planned projects but given their unique characteristics and huge potential benefits, SuperNode urges Eirgrid to consider their usage on each cable project and in the stations. Many of the urban use cases with superconducting cables were commercially advantageous because their lower voltage obviated the need for transformers, to relocate substations and/or improved grid performance.

Superconductivity has two great attributes which work in a city environment: it has a tiny footprint, compared to the conventional copper or aluminium based cable solutions, and it can transfer extremely large amounts of power from Substation A to Substation B. Superconducting cable systems are already operating in other major cities with years of reliable operational experience. There is a project in planning for Munich which will transfer 500MW over 12km at 110kV and another in Chicago that is already moving power over a distance of 4 to 5km using superconducting cable technology. These cities all faced similar urban congestion problems as Dublin. The technology is mature and reliable and would be suited to Dublin’s electricity needs.

Superconducting cables will increase the resilience, the reliability, and most importantly the capacity of Dublin to accept more transmitted power (especially from our planned offshore wind farms), as well as the ability to mesh the distribution grid and deliver that power to where it is wanted.

Superconducting cables can, therefore, future proof Dublin by creating much higher capacity to meet the growing electricity needs of a Dublin energy system in transition.

Superconducting cables would fulfill four of the five categories in Powering Up Dublin’s stated ‘Project Benefits’ in ‘Security and reliability of supply’, ‘Meet Future Needs’, ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Economic’.

Furthermore, SuperNode and its partners are leading efforts in the superconducting industry to develop superconductors for new applications such as long-range, bulk transmission, both onshore and offshore, capable of carrying GWs in a single cable 1 . SuperNode’s experience and contacts can also be leveraged to connect with and attract developers and operators of mature superconducting cable technology to Ireland, to coordinate with Eirgrid, ESB and any interested, involved stakeholders on the proviso that there is a genuine willingness to consider.

Long-Term Benefits

It has become clear now that Ireland is facing the biggest economic and environmental opportunity in generations in our offshore wind resources. The development of our offshore wind resource will allow Ireland to fully decarbonise while also becoming a major exporter of power with the potential to provide up to 10% of Europe’s overall power, as part of an interconnected European energy system based predominantly on renewable energy. It is up to Ireland now whether we can turn this comparative advantage into a competitive one.

For Ireland to achieve this, we are going to need an onshore and offshore grid capable of moving the massive amounts of power (the government’s target is 37GW by 2050) produced off our shores, both around Ireland itself as well as exporting it to our European neighbours, desperate to secure an adequate supply of European, indigenous renewable energy. Grid technology today is simply not capable of moving around this level of power. The development, demonstration and deployment of innovative new grid technologies capable of carrying much higher levels of power, up to 10GW in a single cable, will be critical in the long run.

It is already increasingly difficult to construct large overhead lines due to public opposition and current underground HVDC cable technology is capacity constrained and is not likely to ever be able to carry the required levels of power. Today’s state-of-the-art 525kV copper cables are capable of carrying 1GW of power per cable. This capacity constraint will severely limit the power flows of a renewable based energy system, it will hinder our ability to decarbonise and jeopardise Ireland’s opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower.

It should therefore be a high priority of Eirgrid, in collaboration with ESB, to recognise and establish a clear vision of the energy system in 2050 and start innovating, demonstrating and developing technologies that will contribute in the future so that when they are commercially ready, there is no delay in adopting them. The implementation of superconducting cables to solve Dublin’s congestion problems would offer the dual benefits of alleviating Dublin’s issues in the short term as well as developing experience, expertise and relationships in what could be a critical technology in the medium to long-term.

There is an incredible opportunity for Ireland in the coming green industrial revolution. This is an opportunity that we must take. But in order to do that we must not wait until there is a problem to solve but rather we must be proactive and seize the initiative.