A detailed study into how an offshore electricity grid between Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland could be introduced has been commissioned after being awarded European funding.

The second part of the flagship Irish-Scottish Links on Energy Study (ISLES) has been granted £1m to examine how an offshore grid could be established by breaking down the complex financial, legal and regulatory issues that can affect cross-border energy projects.

Ministers from the three administrations, attending the British Irish Council (BIC) summit in Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland, welcomed the development and committed to work together to examine how such a project could be brought to fruition.

The ISLES announcement comes days after SSE confirmed it would respond to a joint Scottish and UK government study into the potential for renewable energy on Scotland's islands by submitting a needs case to Ofgem for a £780m subsea cable link to connect the Western Isles to the national grid.

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Speaking before the BIC meeting on Friday, First Minister Alex Salmond said: "The waters around these islands have some of the most abundant offshore energy resources anywhere in the world, but in order to harness this vast potential it is vital that we have the infrastructure in place to transfer the energy that is generated to where it is needed.

"That is why the ISLES project is so important. This innovative, cross-border study is examining how we can establish an offshore electricity grid to make this transference of energy easier, supporting our flourishing renewables industry by powering the nation and allowing the surplus energy it generates to be exported to other markets."

ISLES is a joint initiative between Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland examining how an offshore interconnectivity grid could be established to help aid the transfer of energy between the three markets.

The first part of the study, which was published in November 2011, revealed there were no technical barriers to the development of an ISLES offshore interconnected network, and concluded that there were no environmental constraints and sufficient onshore network capacity in the UK for ISLES to be in place by 2020.

Today's announcement confirms that a second ISLES study has been awarded EU INTERREG funding of £913,041, towards a total project cost of £996,479, with the remaining £83,438 met by match funding from the administrations.

(JP/MH)