The Irish-Scottish Links on Energy Study (ISLES), funded by the EU’s INTERREG IVA Programme, has found that development of an interconnected transmission network ‘within the decade’ would help drive further growth in the renewables sector, create jobs, generate revenues and ensure future sustainable energy supplies for the three partners.
Finance Secretary John Swinney says the study is proves again the economic potential of renewable energy.
Speaking as the report was launched today (23rd November 2011) at the National Economic Forum/ISLES Conference in Glasgow, Mr Swinney said: ‘These islands have some of the most abundant and powerful offshore renewable energy sources in Europe. Indeed, Scotland has around a quarter of the continent’s wind and tidal resource and as much as a tenth of its potential wave power. This project paves the way to allow us to harvest that potential, further develop our export capability and bring in revenues to Scotland.
‘This project has EU-wide significance.
‘It shows Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland are leading the debate on how to deliver our offshore energy networks and we will now take these findings to both Westminster and Brussels.
‘Connecting our transmissions networks is a challenging endeavour but the rewards will be huge. It is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.’
Pat Rabbitte, Republic of Ireland Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, said: ‘With a sea area that is almost ten times the size of our landmass, Ireland has abundant ocean renewable energy resources, potentially a multiple of the energy requirements of our own system.
‘By co-operating with our neighbouring administrations, we can work together to create a viable market for these resources, initially across our own islands but in time to continental Europe.
‘The study shows that we have the potential to reduce infrastructure costs by working together in the long term to develop a planned network design.’
Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland Energy Minister, said: ‘I see access to diversified sources of reliable and renewable energy as a core building block for sustainable economic growth.
‘The ISLES concept study presents us with a realistic picture of an energy future where the regional wind, wave and tidal energy resources located far off our coasts are harnessed and used for our mutual good. This will not happen quickly or easily.
‘Northern Ireland’s new Programme for Government and Economic Strategy recognises the need to be responsive to national and international market opportunities. The study points to the sizable potential for local companies to exploit the commercial opportunities that could be generated by the need for a marine renewable supply chain centred on our ports.
‘The ISLES study presents significant challenges to government and potential investors. Across each of our countries there are barriers to regional integration of energy trading systems. Government needs to work with the energy sector to make the investment environment more attractive but without imposing undue costs on the end customer.’
Pat Colgan, CEO of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), which manages the INTERREG IVA Programme, said: ‘Increased use of renewable energy is a core objective of the EU’s ’20-20-20 targets’ which commits all 27 member states to source 20% of their energy needs from renewable sources by the year 2020. This study links into these targets as it has the potential to make a significant impact upon the future of the renewable energy sector.
‘The study has also involved close cross-border collaboration amongst the three governments based in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland, working together to achieve a common goal. This cross-border ‘partnership based’ approach reflects the key goals of the INTERREG IVA Programme which has been designed to encourage greater levels of co-operation between all three regions. I look forward to seeing how the findings of this study are received and the positive benefits it has the potential to create.’
Funded by the EU’s INTERREG IVA Programme, the ISLES project was a two-year collaboration between the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Republic of Ireland Government.
The ISLES report contains important data and hard evidence to help understand the financial, regulatory and technical challenges of building an offshore interconnected transmission network and subsea electricity grid to support generation of electricity from renewable sources in coastal waters off Western Scotland and in the North Channel/Irish Sea area.
Background
More information on the ISLES project is here.
There are two issues here.
The first is that this sort of international grid development project achieves two simultaneous targets. Yes, it does indeed support the export of renewable energies and thereby underpin the economies of contributing countries. It also combats the naturally imposed erratic production of energy from many renewable sources through a shared supply from shared resources. Energy security is an iportant issue and this approach is a constructive one.
The second issue is the timescale.
While the results of the study are encouraging, it hard,ly needed a study to see the sense of the proposed arrangement, The nature of renewable energy sources alone underlines the practicality of international interconnectors.
But we note the Northern Ireland Energy Minister’s qualifier in welcoming the outcome of the study, saying: ‘This will not happen quickly or easily.’
While Arlene Foster is quite right – because the technical challenges in the nature of the work to be done are considerable – as is the cost, it wold be well if the timeframe of ‘within the decade’ were to be formally adopted.
We cannot keep talking about the potential of international grids, We have to realise it. To do that we need the infrastructural support to start going in as soon as we can push it.