Former Tesco CEO wants to build world’s longest electricity link from Morocco to UK

Xlinks announced on Sunday plans to build a 16-billion-pound ($21.9 billion) subsea project, which will cover a distance of 3,800 kilometers (2,360 miles). It will draw power from 10.5 gigawatts of large-scale solar and wind farms in Morocco, and will supply only the UK, unlike other UK interconnectors.

Such links are seen as critical to accessing electricity from countries with diverse resources and the UK plans to triple its interconnector capacity by 2030. The government has pointed to the need to create more renewable capacity to replace gas, which is vulnerable to fluctuating prices internationally. market, while the recent energy crunch highlighted the need for alternative supplies.

“We’re taking this as remote generation, so it’s for the UK energy market as a whole,” Simon Morris, founder and CEO of XLinks, said in an interview. , so it provides an enormous amount of flexibility to the UK energy system.”

The link could supply 7 million British homes, Xlinks said. Former Tesco CEO Dave Lewis and ACWA Power chief Paddy Padmanathan are part of the leadership team.

XLinks Project

Xlinks’ 3.6-GW project is larger than Electricite de France SA’s Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor. Wind and solar capacity will be combined with a 5-GW battery to allow the stored electricity to be sent to the UK when needed.

The government uses a contract-by-difference funding mechanism for renewable energy and large infrastructure projects. Xlinks says it is seeking £48 per megawatt for electricity to be sent to Britain, more than half the price agreed by the government for Hinckley.

Lewis said the company is in talks with the government about the project as it prepares for its CFD application.

Morish said the firm plans to build at least two factories to manufacture the needed cables, which will be faster than waiting for an existing company to build. The project is fully funded until the financial closure, which will take place in 2023.

Xlinks wants to start cabling in 2025, and aims to complete the first half in 2027 and the remainder by 2029.