A renewable energy feasibility study concludes that an Irish-Scottish offshore renewable energy grid could be economically viable.
- 22 April 2013
A detailed study on the potential for an offshore renewable energy grid connecting Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland delivered in late 2011 has concluded that the project could be economically viable.
Part-funded by the EU’s European Territorial Cooperation INTERREG IVa Programme, the Irish-Scottish Links on Energy Study (ISLES) took two years to compile and is a collaborative effort between the Scottish government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish government.
The report examines the financial, regulatory, environmental and technical challenges of building an offshore interconnected transmission network and sub-sea electricity grid that would transmit electricity produced by offshore energy projects off the west coast of Scotland, the north and east coasts of Northern Ireland, the Irish Sea and the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. If such a transmission network is built it would allow the three regions involved to harness the enormous renewable energy potential of the wind, wave and tidal resources of the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea and provide a clean and sustainable source of energy.
According to the report’s findings, there are no technological barriers to creating an interconnected transmission network between the three regions, although potential landfall points in the three jurisdictions have significant constraints due to environmental issues. The report also estimated that a subsea transmission network would cost around GBP 1 million per megawatt of installed capacity.
The report concluded that an offshore energy grid between the three regions has the potential to bring economic, environmental and market-related benefits to both Ireland and the UK.
The feasibility study will help potential investors develop a business case for the construction of a grid. It will also make an important contribution to the European Union’s proposal for a European electricity super grid. If offshore energy projects connected to an offshore energy grid are eventually built, it is possible that the UK and Ireland could send some of the energy produced to continental Europe.
Another benefit of the project, the report found, was the potential for both the UK and Ireland to reduce infrastructure costs by working together. The next step, according to the report, is for Ireland to produce offshore legislation that will dovetail with legislation in neighbouring jurisdictions so that work can begin on putting the network in place for 2020.
The report’s findings were delivered to an inter-governmental steering group in 2011 and were also disseminated at a high-level conference held in Glasgow.
Project manager Bob Hanna, who represents Ireland on the inter-governmental steering group, said that the ISLES report had been “tremendously successful” in achieving it aims and, since the report was published, had been used to help with the planning of exporting marine renewable energy from Ireland to the UK. Work on a second feasibility study, focussing on environmental and regulatory aspects, has recently got underway.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment on the “Irish Scottish Links on Energy Study (ISLES)” project was GBP 1 600 000 (EUR 1 850 000), of which the European Union’s INTERREG IVa Cross-Border Programme for Northern Ireland, the border counties of Ireland and Western Scotland contributed GBP 1 500 000 (EUR 1 740 000) from the programming period 2007-2013.