http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/wind/scotland-plugged-into-north-sea-offshore-grid-development.html

Scotland is set to be at the heart of new plans that were agreed today to deliver a North Sea offshore grid that interconnects European electricity networks.

Ten countries have committed to work together to identify and overcome the regulatory, legal, market, planning and technical issues involved in creating a North Sea grid, through signing a memorandum of understanding.
The agreement includes a specific commitment to take account of the Irish Scottish Links on Energy Study project (ISLES), assessing the opportunities of connecting Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in an Irish Sea and Atlantic coast grid.
An offshore grid will allow Scotland to export its vast renewable electricity surplus to the UK and Europe, in addition to strengthening the security of European energy supplies.
Scotland’s Energy Minister Jim Mather said, ‘Scotland is playing a key role in the development and deployment of an interconnected offshore grid in the North Sea, recently highlighted as a European Union [EU] priority project. A North Sea grid will plug Scotland in to export even greater amounts of the clean, green energy which Scotland’s natural resources can produce in abundance.’
The Scottish government is already part of a working group on North Sea grid connections and has announced that it will play an active part in the development of North Sea infrastructure.
‘We will also continue to work with the EU and the UK government to solve some of the wider barriers to offshore renewables development and deployment,’ said Mather.
The ten countries to have signed the memorandum, which lays out the next steps for delivering a North Sea grid, include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
North Sea grid development was identified as a priority EU project in its Energy Infrastructure Priority plan, published last month, which defined a limited number of EU priority corridors where development is needed to deliver on EU policy goals.
The Scottish government is part of the Georg Adamowitsch Working Group on North Sea grid connections, which is a unique forum for developments and studies across member states to deepen collective knowledge of offshore development.
Since 2007, this group has worked to identify the opportunities and challenges for offshore grid development in the North Sea, identifying significant issues to be addressed around interconnection, standardisation, financing and political will.
The Scottish government is also working in partnership with the governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland on a full feasibility study into development of an offshore transmission grid to exploit offshore energy, and will deliver a marine spatial plan for Scottish seas early next year. A British Irish Council agreement signed in June 2010 defined further areas of collaboration on grid development.
The country’s second National Planning Framework clearly identifies onshore and offshore grid development as national infrastructure priorities.