All-Island Substation Connectivity Diagram v1.0

In 1931, Harry Beck created the iconic London Underground tube map. By distorting the exact geography of the city, and insisting on only 90° or 45° angles, he created a legible display that made the connections between tube stations intuitive and tangible. Notably, it seems Beck’s familiarity with circuit schematics inspired his iconic tube map. With our diagram we try to come full circle: can transit maps inspire a new way to look at the circuits that make up the Irish power system? This diagram was iteratively built up over the course of a nine month collaboration between Dr. Paul Cuffe (UCD) and Dr. Pádraig Daly and others in Eirgrid. A key motivation was to aid communication with non-technical stakeholders: for instance, to explain why it might be necessary to build a new powerline to accommodate more wind power. The main challenge was locating each substation to have a plausible geographic position while also orienting the connecting lines at 90° or 45° (though we had to cheat in places, either by adding inflection points, or by tolerating ‘wrong’ angles) While some node-positioning algorithms were used in the early stages, the bulk of the work here was done manually, with a 45° set square perched up against the screen. Strict geographical accuracy is sacrificed where this allows a cleaner depiction of the system's connective structure. Provided as-is and without warranty.