Its purpose was to facilitate the development of offshore renewable resources, such as wind, wave and tidal energy, and renewable energy trade between Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
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 with onshore grids.
[6] The ISLES project was 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 on 7 June 2008.
The contract to undertake the feasibility study was awarded to a consortium led by RPS Group.
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.