ISLES (Irish–Scottish Links on Energy Study) was a two phase project that ran from 2010–2015. Its purpose was to facilitate the development of offshore renewable resources, such as

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...

and tidal energy, and renewable energy trade between

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It assessed the feasibility, and developed a conception, of creating an integrated offshore transmission network connecting renewable energy project sites located off the west coast of Scotland, north and east coasts of Northern Ireland, west coast of Ireland and in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

with onshore grids. It was a joint project between the governments of Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland, funded primarily by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

INTERREG Interreg is a series of programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in and out of the European Union (EU), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989. Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. I ...

IVA Programme. Funding from INTERREG was approximately €2 million and was managed by the Special EU Programmes Body . The project was also awarded Project of Common Interest status by the

. ISLES The first phase of the ISLES project was led by the Scottish Government and announced by Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism of Scotland Jim Mather and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources of Ireland Eamon Ryan in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 7 June 2008. The contract to undertake the feasibility study was awarded to a consortium led by

RPS Group RPS Group Limited is a global professional services firm of consultants and service providers, headquartered in Abingdon-on-Thames, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Tetra Tech in January 2023. History ...

. Its final reports were delivered to the inter-governmental steering group in late-2011. The findings were disseminated at a conference in Glasgow on 23 November 2011. According to these findings, there are no technological barriers to ISLES and the project is feasible, although landfall points throughout the three jurisdictions have significant constraints due to environmental issues. It would cost about £1 million per each MW of installed capacity. It concluded that a second project was needed to achieve further progress toward implementation. ISLES 2: Towards Implementation Phase 2 of the project was announced by Mather's successor

Fergus Ewing Fergus Stewart Ewing (born 23 September 1957) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial ...

in 2013. Once again it was a partnership between project partners the Scottish Government, Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in Ireland. Match funding was secured from the

IVA Programme overseen by the Special EU Programmes Body. A consortium of consultants worked together on three workstreams: a spatial plan and sustainability appraisal; a network regulation and market alignment study; and a business plan. A suite of reports was unveiled by Chris Stark at the All Energy Conference in Glasgow on 6 May 2015 and formally published on 18 September 2015.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.islesproject.eu Electricity policy in Scotland Electric power infrastructure in Scotland Electric power infrastructure in Ireland Politics of the British Isles

See also

References

External links