UK-Morocco Renewable Energy Link Advances: 3,800km Submarine Cable Project Underway

The Xlinks project is making great strides. British cable manufacturer XLCC is about to build a factory in Hunterston, Scotland, and its first production will be for the Xlinks Morocco/UK project, reports the American media specialized in sustainable energy, Elektrek. XLCC will thus provide four 3,800 km submarine cables. The first cable will be active at the beginning of 2027, while the rest should be launched in 2029. The first phase of the Xlinks project is scheduled between 2025 and 2027. During this period, it will be a question of connecting the wind and solar energy produced in Morocco to Alverdiscott, in the north of Devon, in the southwest of the United Kingdom.

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This initiative will almost double the current global production capacity for HVDC cable manufacturing. The world’s longest submarine cables will thus require 90,000 metric tons of steel, it is specified. This week, XLCC signed the British Steel Charter in Parliament, in which it has committed to using British steel.

The overall cost of the project to build the 3,800 km submarine electric cable connecting Morocco and the United Kingdom is £16 billion ($21.9 billion). Xlinks will build a 10.5 GW power plant (7 GW for solar, and 3.5 GW for wind) in Morocco.