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Eirgrid chief executive Mark Foley
The existing electricity grid, which includes 6,600km of overhead and underground cables, is not strong enough to handle the extra load.
The extra electricity is to come from renewable sources, mainly wind and solar, which is generated at different frequencies and times.
The existing grid does not have the flexibility to manage the variety.
There is also a mismatch between where most renewable energy is generated, in rural wind farms in the west, and where it is mostly used, in the built-up east coast.
Eirgrid says it can take four different approaches to transforming the grid, with the number of major infrastructure projects ranging from 38 to 77 and the cost from €500m to €2bn.
MOST people are opposed to having wind farms or pylons anywhere near their homes, a study has found.
Despite being generally in favour of renewable energy, only one third of people would willingly accept a wind farm within 5km of their home and even fewer could accept overhead pylons that close.
The findings, from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), illustrate the challenges in the Government s plan to meet 70pc of the country s electricity needs through renewable energy by the end of this decade.
It also signals difficulties ahead for the North-South interconnector project which would see a string of high-voltage pylons erected through Meath, Cavan and Monaghan.
“Common ground is just that – the soil we tread on that gently holds us together,” he said.
The conference was hosted by the new Shared Island Unit set up by the government to help maintain all-island relations post-Brexit.
Speakers, including scientists, regulators and environmental activists, said while there were strong links and shared projects between universities and environmental groups north and south, official policy was not always so closely aligned.
They raised concerns around the Brexit fall-out and what the implications may be for a Northern Ireland no longer bound by EU environmental directives or the biodiversity clauses in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
A former director for renewable energy at the European Commission and one of country s best-known climatologists have been appointed to the new Climate Change Advisory Council.
Marie Donnelly, who drove clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives at the Commission, and currently chair of Renewable Energy Ireland, will become the new chair of the council.
Professor Peter Thorne, director of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units group at Maynooth University joins her as a new member.
Outgoing chair, economist Professor John FitzGerald, is to remain on as an ordinary member.
Climate Action Minister Eamon Ryan has made the appointments in advance of the formation of the new council which will only be formally established when the new Climate Bill is enacted.