On first glance, the EU’s role in the North Sea Grid seems vital The EU Commission has been an advocate via policy statements[124] and funded technical studies such as the North Sea Grid project [125] and the FP7 ENSEA (European North Sea EnergyAlliance) project [126]. A coordinator [127] was appointed dur-ing the early period to push the idea under the Trans European Energy Network for Energy (TEN-E) [128]. EU funding for research on electricity transmission innovation also has a positive impact on NSCOGI, for example the FP7 funded TWENTIES [129] projects has helped test HVDC breakers [130].