EirGrid has announced the emerging preferred route corridor for the Grid West project.

The chosen 1km wide corridor, which will accommodate a new power line, starts north west of Moygownagh, runs west of Ballina, east of Foxford and Swinford, south of Charlestown and Ballaghaderreen before linking into the existing Flagford substation, near Carrick-on-Shannon.

The €240 million Grid West project will develop a new high capacity power line linking North Mayo to Flagford in County Roscommon. By connecting the electricity generated by the region’s huge renewable energy resources, the project will facilitate significant job creation and investment as well as contributing to national recovery and growth. The Grid West project is part of EirGrid's Grid25 plan to upgrade the national grid between now and 2025 to deliver a sustainable, competitive and secure electricity supply to homes, businesses and industries.

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Five public open days will be held over the next two weeks along the emerging preferred route corridor. We encourage the public and communities to further engage with the project. EirGrid will then commence engagement with landowners within the corridor to identify a possible line route and substation locations, which will be the subject of further public consultation next year.

The Grid West Project Manager, Sean Meagher said: "This is another important step for the Grid West project as today we have announced the corridor within which we will now seek to locate a new transmission line. During March of this year, we published the Grid West project Stage 1 Report and invited feedback from the public on the different route corridor options. Today we confirm that the option identified as the least constrained corridor in the Stage 1 Report has now become the preferred option. Changes were made to this corridor based on feedback received along with further technical studies, while other feedback will be considered as a line within this corridor is designed over the coming months."

(CD/MH)