Morocco’s Saharan Solar Project to Power 7 Million UK Homes via Undersea Cable

The project will be developed in the Sahara, more precisely in the Guelmim Oued Noun region, which generates 20% more sun than Spain and twice as much as the United Kingdom. With the construction of a 10.5 GW solar and wind power plant in this area by 2030, Morocco will be able to supply solar and wind power to the United Kingdom via a giant underwater cable that will run along the coasts of Spain and Portugal. This energy production in Morocco will be used to cover 8% of the country’s total electricity needs and should impact 7 million British families, reports El Economista.

Richard Hardy, project manager at Xlinks, says he understands that people were "puzzled" at first by the ambitious nature of the project. "But when you really step back, it almost becomes obvious that as long as we can find the energy, the project makes sense," he explained. The energy will be transported from the production site in Morocco to the United Kingdom thanks to HVDC cables, suitable for long-distance electricity transmission, allowing losses to be reduced from 20% to 30% for AC systems.

These HVDC systems can "solve" one of the biggest challenges of renewable energies: the constant supply of energy 24 hours a day. They also present an economic opportunity in the sense that the interconnected countries can access the cheapest energy, especially in the current context of the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.