10GW renewable plant in Morocco to power UK via undersea cable

UK-based renewables company, Xlinks ,is developing a 10.5 gigawatt (GW) solar and wind facility in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region of Morocco which will supply the UK with clean energy via HVDC subsea cables. The gigantic renewable energy facility will sit on 1,500 square kilometers of land and will be backed-up by a 20GWh/5GW battery energy storage system (BESS).

The renewable energy facility will cost $21.9 billion to implement and is expected to be completed by the end of this decade. The HVDC subsea cables will stretch about 2,361 miles (3,800 km) from Morocco to the UK, delivering enough power to supply over 7 million UK homes by 2030.

According to Xlinks, they will charge 48 pounds for each megawatt-hour of power sent to Britain.

Xlinks executive chair, Sir Dave Lewis, said, “The project will harness extremely reliable solar and wind power in Morocco to deliver vital baseload power balancing and enabling our own offshore wind ambitions, while reinforcing Morocco’s renewable energy industry.”

The mega project is anticipated to create nearly 10,000 jobs in Morocco, of which 2,000 of those will be permanent positions.

The renewable energy facility is being designed to produce energy around the clock using solar at day time and wind at night. “This is renewable energy that behaves like baseload,” Lewis said. “We have none of the intermittency.” 

Xlinks will construct two factories to manufacture the cables needed which the company says is quicker than waiting for an existing company to supply them.