A proposed infrastructure link connecting the Moroccan energy grid with the UK has been dropped by the government due to it not being in the “UK national interest at this time”.
The UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has rejected the £24bn power project to bring solar and wind power from the Moroccan desert to the UK via 3,800km-long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables. If built it would be the world’s longest undersea power cable.
Led by developer Xlinks with financial backing from a number of partners including Octopus Energy Group, the project included a proposal to create 10.5GW of renewable generation, 20GWh of battery storage and a 3.6GW HVDC interconnector.
With Morocco’s consistent weather, Xlinks said the solar panels could produce three times more energy than they would in the UK, supplying up to 8% of the UK’s power needs.
In September 2023, the then net zero minister Claire Coutinho confirmed that the proposal had been given the...
