An agreement was made to establish a concrete plan and timeline for the project, and a meeting of political, industry and regulatory stakeholders was organised to take place early 2010.

The initiative will involve Ireland and the UK, Sweden, Denmark, France and Germany. It will build on existing work, particularly the Irish Scottish Links on Energy Study infrastructure project, which provided a feasibility study into the development of an offshore transmission electricity grid around the west coast of Scotland, the north and east coasts of Northern Ireland, the Irish Sea and the west coast of Ireland.

“This is a huge step toward meeting our common renewable energy goals and in guaranteeing a low carbon future,” said Irish Minister for Energy and Environment Eamon Ryan.

“(Now) Irish wind farms will be able to connect directly to Europe, not only securing our energy supply, but allowing us to sell the electricity produced on a wider market.”

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European Wind Energy Association Policy Director Justin Wilkes commended the declaration.

“These nine countries have taken a step in the right direction. The building of a supergrid in the North Sea is vital for fully exploiting Europe’s biggest energy source, offshore wind,” Mr Wilkes said.

More than 100 GW of offshore wind projects are at various stages of planning, which could provide more than ten per cent of the European Union’s electricity.