2024
Ireland
For each of the EirGrid’s strategic infrastructure projects, the Irish TSO’s Community Benefit Funds delivers lasting benefits to communities by supporting local projects.
EirGrid is putting communities at the heart of engagement by delivering a benefit scheme and establishing a community forum to ensure that fund is designed for the local community by the local community. EirGrid acknowledges the vital role local communities play in facilitating the delivery of grid infrastructure and is committed to providing direct benefits to those who are supporting the transition to a stronger, more renewable energy system. Supported initiatives cover areas like biodiversity, renewable energy projects, education initiatives, sporting and community development initiatives.
Highlights
01
Commitment to deliver Community Benefit Funds that are designed for the local community by the local community.
02
In 2024, almost €1,000,000 awarded through the Community Benefit Fund to local groups on the Laois Kilkenny Reinforcement and Celtic interconnector projects.
03
Last fund launched in North Connacht in January 2026, with more to come around the country in the next two years.
Main Information
EirGrid, Ireland’s independent system operator for electricity, has for many years championed an inclusive approach to building a low-carbon future. That is with, not just for, communities.
In this context, EirGrid creates a Community Benefit Fund for each strategic infrastructure project that provides direct benefits to the communities impacted by a transmission line. These funds are proportional to the scale of the project and aimed at supporting local causes, helping communities transform their area and providing the opportunity to each community to become or remain a ‘sustainable energy community’. . The new Community Benefit Policy, introduced in 2023, tripled the value of available funding and structured it across three streams: community, sustainability, and biodiversity, to ensure that benefits are both strategic and locally meaningful.
These Community Benefits Funds are embedded within EirGrid’s wider engagement strategy and rely on input from the Community Forums for their practical implementation. These forums are a broad cross-section of stakeholders from the project area, including residents, community leaders, local businesses, environmental groups, and elected representatives. Established at the earliest stage of project development, they are democratically elected and independently facilitated.
Beyond providing a transparent space for dialogue between EirGrid and the community, the Community Forum also help guide, in cooperation with an independent fund administrator, how the Community Benefit Fund is distributed. Once the Community Benefit Strategy for the project area is agreed and construction has started, 40% of the funds are released, a further 30% is released mid-way through construction and the final 30% is released when the project is energised. In 2024, EirGrid awarded almost €1,000,000 through the Community Benefit Fund to local groups on the Laois Kilkenny Reinforcement project and on the Celtic interconnector project. The funds supported initiatives ranging from biodiversity enhancement and renewable energy projects to community and sporting organisations, transport and education programmes.
EirGrid reports that this strategy has delivered overwhelmingly positive outcomes. Projects that allocate dedicated community funds consistently experience higher levels of public support, with measurable improvements in social acceptance across host communities. For example, in the Kildare-Meath Grid Upgrade, over 70% of surveyed community members reported a greater understanding of the need for grid development and expressed support for the project following Forum engagement. Across multiple projects, EirGrid has observed a reduction in formal objections and planning delays, with Forum participation contributing to smoother statutory processes.
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