April 28, 2021 – 12:40 – Economics
©
British energy company Xlinks wants to lay a 3,800 km submarine power cable between Morocco and the United Kingdom.
Electricity sustainably generated in Morocco must be transmitted to the United Kingdom via this cable. The power plant Xlinks wants to construct in Morocco must provide 7 gigawatts of solar energy and 3.5 gigawatts of wind power.
In an interview with the magazine PV Magazine Simon Morich, CEO of Xlinks, says his company is in talks with the Moroccan government about the exact location to build the power plant. According to Mauritius, there’s a good chance you picked a site out in the desert. The CEO said: “The low cost of generating solar and wind power in the desert means the project can include significant storage space, so that the project can deliver electricity to the UK overnight.”
The intent is to put four power cables on the end. The first of these cables will be operational in 2027 and the second in 2029. According to Mauritius, three different cable paths have been contemplated on the sea floor. A road has been chosen that crosses the territorial waters of different European countries, so that the cables can be laid at a depth of 700 meters as a maximum. Xlinks needs permission from Spain, Portugal, and France to build.
