Harry Potter Fans Force Rerouting of £430 Million Greenlink Power Connector to Protect Dobby's Grave
Key Takeaways
- •The Greenlink project is a £430 million, 125-mile interconnector designed to connect the UK's National Grid with Ireland's electricity network between County Wexford and Freshwater West in Wales.
- •Freshwater West is the filming location for Dobby's death scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and has become a pilgrimage site where fans maintain a stone memorial inscribed "here lies Dobby."
- •A fan campaign to protect the memorial site led organizers to reroute the construction project away from the location.
- •The project aims to enable two-way power trade between Britain and Ireland to improve grid resilience and support renewable energy integration.
- •The rerouting represents an unusual case of fictional heritage affecting national energy infrastructure planning, which is typically driven by environmental, regulatory, and landowner considerations.
Harry Potter fans have successfully campaigned to alter the route of a major infrastructure project after it was set to pass through the site known as the grave of the beloved character Dobby.
The Greenlink power connector, a 125-mile interconnector costing £430 million, is designed to link the UK's National Grid with Ireland's electricity network. The planned route runs between County Wexford in Ireland and Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The project is part of a broader push for cross-border electricity links between Britain and Ireland, enabling two-way power trade designed to improve grid resilience and support the integration of renewable energy sources on both sides of the Irish Sea.
However, Freshwater West holds special significance for Harry Potter enthusiasts. The location served as the filming site for the death scene of the house elf Dobby in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans have since created a makeshift memorial there — a pile of stones inscribed with the words "here lies Dobby" — which has become a popular pilgrimage destination.
According to NME, the campaign to protect the site prompted a rerouting of the construction project. The episode is an unusual example of fictional heritage complicating national energy infrastructure planning, a domain more typically shaped by environmental impact assessments, landowner negotiations, and regulatory approvals.
As the blogger at Marginal Revolution wryly observed: "All I can say is that Voldemort would never have put up with this shit."
