Written question asked by Eric Clarke (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 March 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 3 April 2001. It was answered by Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke (Labour) on Tuesday, 3 April 2001 on behalf of the Scotland Office.

Scotland Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, What progress has been made on the electricity inter-connector to Northern Ireland from Scotland and the upgrading of the English inter-connector. (Failed OPQ). - Includes figures.

Answer: Mr. Eric Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made on the electricity interconnector to Northern Ireland from Scotland and the upgrading of the English interconnector. [155178] Mrs. Liddell: Progress is ongoing on upgrading interconnector links from Scotland to both Northern Ireland and England and I welcome the further expansion of business opportunities in the electricity market. Work is under way to have the Scotland--Northern Ireland interconnector fully operational by the end of the year, at a capacity of 480MW, which will be its design maximum. It is expected that at least some of the electricity exported to Northern Ireland would then be re-exported to the Republic. Work is also progressing to complete the upgrading of the Scotland--England interconnector by October 2002. The upgrade will take its nominal capacity from 1600MW to 2200MW.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 366 c169W; 155178
Session: 2000-01
Question not reached: Yes
Subjects: Electricity generation Electric cables Scotland Electricity interconnectors
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk