Morocco-UK Renewable Energy Cable Project to Create Hundreds of Jobs in Scotland

The planning committee of the North Ayrshire Council (the administrative division that will house the factories, editor’s note) had granted a building permit for the HVDC submarine cable manufacturing plant of XLCC in Hunterston, in the west of Scotland. Once built, the plant will have to produce four 3,800 km long cables connecting solar and wind power from the Sahara, as part of the Xlinks project. These lines, which are planned in deep water, will have to cross Spain, Portugal and France. The plant is also expected to generate up to 900 jobs, with thousands more in the supply chain, according to insider.co.uk.

"We are delighted and proud to be involved in creating a new high-tech green industry for the UK and supporting the march towards net zero," said Santosh Patel, director of Pick Everard. "From a manufacturing perspective, subsea cables will be created at a length never seen before, while consumers will benefit from a much lower unit cost for their energy once the project is fully implemented," he added.

At a total cost of £16 billion ($21.9 billion), the project to build the 3,800 km submarine power cable will connect Morocco and the United Kingdom. Xlinks will build a 10.5 GW power plant (7 GW for solar, and 3.5 GW for wind) in Morocco. The latter will be able to supply the UK with 8% of its electricity needs.