Harry Potter fans prompt £430M UK-Ireland power cable to avoid Dobby memorial

Harry Potter fans prompted developers of a £430 million ($577 million) electricity link between Ireland and Britain to change its route because the planned cable would have passed through a memorial to the fictional character Dobby the House Elf, a former project director has revealed.

Simon Ludlam, founder of energy advisory company Etchea Energy, recounted the dispute during an episode of The Energy Revolution podcast released on Aug. 5.

The Greenlink interconnector's cable comes ashore at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, Wales, a beach used to film Dobby's death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1.

Fans later created an unofficial memorial at the beach using stones bearing messages to the character, along with socks and other objects connected to his story.

Ludlam said he participated in a television interview explaining where the underground cable would be installed. When the interview aired several weeks later, the company began receiving "hundreds of calls" from fans who believed the route would destroy the memorial.

A colleague informed him that the cable was "going to go straight through Dobby's grave."

"Dobby, who's Dobby?" Ludlam recalled asking, initially pointing out that the character and grave were fictional.

After his colleague stressed that the complaints were "very, very serious," Ludlam said the project team returned to planners to determine how the cable could be redirected away from the tribute.

The route was subsequently changed, satisfying the fans and allowing the project to proceed without disturbing the memorial.

"Actually, we went quite close to some real Bronze Age remains, but we avoided Dobby's grave," Ludlam said.

An archaeological assessment conducted for the project identified part of an inverted pottery vessel believed to be a Bronze Age burial urn dating from approximately 1700 to 1500 BC.

POWER LINK OPERATIONAL SINCE 2025

Greenlink consists of about 190 kilometers (118 miles) of subsea and underground cables connecting EirGrid's Great Island substation in County Wexford, Ireland, with the National Grid's Pembroke substation in Wales.

The 500-megawatt high-voltage direct-current interconnector became operational in February 2025 and can transmit electricity in either direction between the two countries.

According to Greenlink, it has the potential to power as many as 380,000 homes while supporting renewable-energy trading and improving the security of electricity supplies.

The Dobby memorial previously faced possible removal in 2022 amid concerns about its effect on the environmentally sensitive beach.

Following a public consultation, National Trust Cymru agreed that the memorial could remain but urged visitors to follow a "leave no trace" policy and take photographs rather than leave objects.

The organization warned that socks, trinkets and paint from decorated stones could enter the marine environment and food chain, potentially harming wildlife.

Socks are particularly associated with Dobby because Harry Potter tricks the character's owner into giving him one in the series, freeing the house-elf from servitude.