Overview
- Etchea Energy, which manages the Greenlink project, altered the planned route of the £430 million, 201-kilometre subsea interconnector to avoid a fan-created memorial to the Harry Potter character Dobby at Freshwater West.
- Company chief Simon Ludlam said hundreds of concerned calls following a BBC News interview prompted the project team to re-examine and move the cable route to protect the symbolic site.
- The Greenlink cable is designed to link electricity networks in County Wexford, Ireland and Freshwater West, Wales to share renewable energy and boost transfer capacity between the two countries.
- The revised path now passes close to Bronze Age archaeological remains and sensitive coastal habitat, creating a separate set of consultation and preservation challenges for planners and heritage authorities.
- Local tourism figures and the National Trust’s previous decision to allow the memorial to remain underline the economic and cultural stakes for Pembrokeshire, and regulators will likely weigh heritage, archaeological and environmental safeguards as the project proceeds.