A plan to connect Northern Ireland’s and the Republic of Ireland’s grids via a 400kV transmission line is facing opposition from local campaigners.

Campaigners contend that the new interconnection lines will render landowners in Northern Ireland as the “whipping boy” of failed energy strategies in the Republic of Ireland, where data center consumption hit 21 percent in 2023.

The legal challenge was issued initially by the Safe Electricity Armagh Tyrone (SEAT) in February, and calls on Liz Kimmins, the Northern Ireland minister for infrastructure to suspend the construction of more than 100 planned pylons in Armagh and Tyrone until a judicial review, which is is due to start tomorrow (9 April).

Work on the project has already begun, but planning permission on the project is expected to expire in autumn. As a result, if the legal challenge is successful, it could delay plans by years.

Speaking to the Guardian, John Woods, the founder of Linwoods Health Foods, based in Armagh, who heads SAFE, said: “There’s a fundamental question: what is the interconnector for? And what does it do for Northern Ireland? Nothing for Northern Ireland now or in the next decade, because all it will do is cream off, poach, steal, take for dirt money our renewable energy and sell it to the data centers at added value money.”

He went on to claim the decision to construct the interconnector is a means to facilitate Ireland to pursue “sucking power from Scotland” for deployment in Ireland “using NI as a land bridge.”

Responding to the claims, the System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) argued that Wood’s statements are inaccurate.

“The north-south interconnector will also remove significant constraints on the Northern Ireland transmission grid, enabling NI to use more of the renewable electricity it already generates. Removing these constraints will also save Northern Ireland consumers approximately £55,000 ($70,345) a day, £19m ($24.3m) annually, in costly constraint payments,” the spokesperson said.

The project, which was first proposed in 2006, has faced mounting challenges during its development period that have led to significant delays.

The interconnector plans to connect the network in Northern Ireland in Co Tyrone, cross the border between Armagh and Monaghan, and then join the network in Ireland at an existing substation in Co Meath.

As the project spans two jurisdictions, it is being managed by both SONI and the Irish grid operator EirGrid. The project is currently at its final stage, with preliminary construction having commenced already. If it does not face further delays, it is expected to take at least three years to complete and cost an estimated £300m ($383.7m).