Ireland’s energy minister Pat Rabbitte announced yesterday that further examination of the scheme has “failed to conclude an inter-governmental agreement”.
The collapse of the deal comes despite UK Prime Minister David Cameron holding talks with his Irish opposite number Enda Kenny on the matter.
The project would have seen more than 1,000 wind turbines constructed across the Irish midlands by 2020, with up to 8GW of power being exported to the UK.
Rabbitte said: “I regret that it has not been possible at this time to conclude an agreement as envisaged.”
He added that “the economic, policy and regulatory complexities involved, and the key decisions yet to be taken by the UK” were the key factors in the plan not going ahead.
Despite this, Rabbitte was optimistic that the export of Irish wind energy to the UK was “inevitable” post 2020 due to the development of the EU internal energy market.
A spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Both Ministers recognise there are a number of complexities in delivering these first-of-a-kind projects, but the UK remains committed to putting in place the frameworks necessary to allow international trading.”