The Irish Government is going to sign an agreement early next year which would see an undersea electricity interconnector built to Spain.
Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O'Brien told RTÉ News that he met with his Spanish counterpart this week.
"Things will have to worked through on exact locations and things like that, but we are working towards a memorandum of understanding in the Spring," the Minister said.
It is understood it is more likely that Spain would export energy to Ireland as it frequently has an excess of power.
Minister O'Brien said the costs of an interconnector with Spain had not yet been confirmed but the project would be likely to be completed in the 2030s.
He said Europe may co-fund the costs along with Spain and Ireland.
Minister O’Brien said there had been initial discussions among officials about the project and the first political discussions on the project had happened this week.
Ireland currently has two interconnectors with Britain called East West and Greenlink with a third, MaresConnect, expected to start operations in 2030.
France will also be linked to Ireland in 2027 through the Celtic Interconnector.
Interconnectors allow countries to buy and sell electricity from one another.
