Massive Undersea Cable to Bring Moroccan Solar and Wind Power to UK

A revolution is looming in the renewable energy sector. Xlinks plans to build a 10.5 GW power plant (7 GW for solar, and 3.5 GW for wind) in Morocco and to transfer the energy produced directly to the United Kingdom via a 3,800 km HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) submarine cable, connected to sites in Wales and Devon. This represents the world’s first long submarine cable.

In a statement to pv magazine, Xlinks CEO Simon Morrish said the company is already in talks with the Moroccan government to define the exact site of the future power plant and is working to obtain permits with the departments concerned. The probability is very high that this energy complex will be built in the Sahara. "The low cost of solar and wind power production in the Sahara means the project can include significant storage to allow the project to supply electricity to the UK all night," the firm notes.

According to the CEO of Xlinks, the first 1.8 GW cable will be operational as early as 2027, while the second cable should be commissioned in 2029. The 3,800 kilometer cable will consist of four cables. "For its deployment, three different routes have been considered and the one not touching territorial waters has reached depths of 3,000 meters. We have therefore opted for the shallowest route which does not exceed 700 meters," said Simon Morrish. And to add: "This means that we will cross the territorial waters of Spain, Portugal and France and we are now launching the authorization requests in this regard".