Morocco-United Kingdom Submarine Cable: Finally?

There is new momentum for the Morocco/United Kingdom submarine cable project. According to its promoters and various funders, the project should receive substantial political support in order to become a reality, Bloomberg reports. A commitment from the British authorities should be decisive in bringing the project to fruition. Xlinks, the company responsible for constructing the project, is also in talks with the British government to obtain a contract guaranteeing a fixed electricity sale price. The tariff should be higher than that of British offshore wind power, but lower than the agreement concluded in 2016 for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, the company estimates.

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During the first half of 2023, British officials had devoted 9,500 working hours to the project to construct the Morocco/United Kingdom submarine cable. But the project needs greater support from the British government, especially financial support. Building this colossal link would require an investment of nearly 24 billion pounds sterling (approximately 29.9 billion dollars), including five billion injected directly into the United Kingdom. The project has already received financial backing from the American company GE Vernova Inc. (10.2 million dollars), and from an investor consortium comprising the French group TotalEnergies SE, the Emirati company Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. and one of the United Kingdom’s leading energy suppliers, Octopus Energy.

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The project to construct the 3,800 km submarine power cable will link Morocco and the United Kingdom. Xlinks will build a 10.5 GW power plant (7 GW of solar power and 3.5 GW of wind power) in Morocco. The latter will be able to provide the United Kingdom with 8% of its electricity needs. According to the British company’s calculations, this facility will provide the British with 3.6 GW of reliable and clean electricity for an average of 20 hours a day. This network “would provide the United Kingdom with a stable green energy source, complementary to the growth of offshore wind farms in the North Sea,” explains Dave Lewis, chairman of Xlinks and former chief executive of the Tesco group.

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The company’s aim is to make a final investment decision in 2025, complete the financing in 2026 and begin work before the end of 2026. The submarine cable should be operational before 2031, shortly after the deadline set by London for the transition to a fully decarbonized electricity grid by 2030.