EirGrid takes part in 'Power of Participation' event in Brussels

Members of EirGrid's Public Engagement team attended ‘The Power of Participation - Advancing Public Engagement in Grid Planning’ event in Brussels on Thursday. 

Organised by the Renewables Grid Initiative, the European Commission and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, the event looks to advance the 'Pact for Engagement' which was signed by EirGrid and several other leading electricity transmission grid operators across Europe in 2023. 

The Pact for Engagement establishes a collective commitment to ensure citizens, communities and stakeholders play a meaningful role in shaping the energy transition and achieving Europe's climate and energy goals. 

Sinead Dooley, EirGrid's Head of Public Engagement joined a panel discussion on how to measure and understand what makes public engagement effective, highlighting key learnings and practical methods for assessing engagement effectiveness in practice. 

Emerging findings on EirGrid's research collaboration with University College Cork were also presented.  

Speaking at the event, Sinead said: "Engaging with members of the public is essential for delivering critical infrastructure projects and at EirGrid, we are committed to putting citizens and communities at the heart of our decision making. It is only with public support that we can achieve our climate action targets and secure a sustainable supply of electricity for the next generation.

It's great to be a part of such a strong panel of experts, bringing together different perspectives. We look forward to applying these learnings at EirGrid and will continue to provide early and transparent information about proposed projects and create opportunities for meaningful community input from the earliest stages"