The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project is a proposal to create 11.5 GW of renewable generation, 22.5 GWh of battery storage and a 3.6GW

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

interconnector to carry solar and wind-generated electricity from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Morocco has been hailed as a potential key power generator for Europe as the continent looks to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. If built, the cable will be the world's longest undersea power cable, and would supply up to 8% of the UK's electricity consumption. The project is projected to be operational within a decade. The proposal was rejected by the UK Government in June 2025.

Current status

As of April 2024, the project's developer, Xlinks First Ltd has received investments from Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA),

TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorati ...

, and

Octopus Energy Octopus Energy Group is a British renewable energy group. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of Octopus Group, a British asset management company. Headquartered in London, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, ...

, raising more than £50 million for the project, with £5 billion of equity finance 'lined up'. It was previously reported that it was close to appointing bankers to help raise the billions of pounds of investment funding required. In August 2023 Xlinks was declared a project of “ national significance” by

Claire Coutinho Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (; born 8 July 1985) is a British politician and former investment banker who has been Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities since 2024. A member of the Cons ...

, the UK’s

Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is a Secretary of State in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the Un ...

. Xlinks was founded by Simon Morrish, a serial entrepreneur who provided most of the £30M seed funding. The project’s executive chairman is former

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

chief executive Sir Dave Lewis, and the vice-chair is Paddy Padmanathan, former CEO and president of ACWA Power. Sir Ian Davis, former chairman of

Rolls-Royce Holdings Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and dist ...

, serves as a non-executive director.

Power generation

Generation is proposed from a

solar farm A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

covering around , together with a

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

of approximately , complemented by a 22.5GWh / 5GW battery. The planned total generating capacity is a nominal 11.5GW.

Location

Wind Power Density in Africa from Global Wind Atlas

The wind and solar farms will be located in the

Guelmim-Oued Noun Guelmim-Oued Noun () is one of the twelve regions of Morocco, regions of Morocco. The southeastern part of the region is located in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and a small strip of land in this area is administered by the Sahrawi A ...

region of Morocco. The region has excellent generating characteristics: * The desert location has sunshine with the third highest Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) in North Africa. * The consistently strong winds blow from the North and North-West. Mountain ranges inland from the coast concentrate the wind and enjoy some of the highest onshore wind power densities in Africa.

Daily consistency

The PV component will generate electricity during daylight hours, and the PV panels will move to track the sun to increase output in the morning and the evening. In Morocco, the prevailing winds blow most strongly in the afternoon and early evening, driven by the temperature difference between the Sahara Desert and the cooler Atlantic Ocean. These generating characteristics, combined with battery back-up, should allow the cable to run at full capacity for more than 19 hours a day on average.

Seasonal consistency

Because of the intense year-round sunshine, solar panels are expected to produce three times more energy than they would in the UK. The panels will generate throughout the year, including the winter months when, in Britain, sunshine is scarce and the days are short. The reliable prevailing winds will generate power consistently, even at times of low winds in Europe.

Interconnector cable

Route

If built, the undersea cable will run from landfall near

Tan-Tan A tan-tan is a cylindrical hand drum from Brazil that is used in small samba and pagode ensembles. It imitates the big Surdo which is played by the famous samba ''baterias'' (percussion ensembles). But due to its smaller size the tan-tan is not a ...

in southern Morocco to National Grid connection points at

Alverdiscott Alverdiscott (pronounced ''Alscott'', or ) is a village, civil parish, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, centred south-south-west of Barnstaple. Besides the small village of Alverdiscott ...

near the north coast of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. The cable will follow the shallow water route from Morocco to Great Britain, going to a maximum depth of . Following the continental shelf is longer than the direct route, but is less technically challenging and avoids the abyssal depths of the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

. The cable route passes Spain, Portugal and France, but is not planned to have any electrical connection to these countries. This will massively simplify obtaining permits from those countries.

Technical specification

The 3.6GW interconnector is planned to consist of two independent 1.8GW circuits, each with separate positive and negative

cables Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a he ...

Manufacturing

Xlinks proposes to manufacture the submarine power cables through a separately financed affiliate company, XLCC, and has secured a manufacturing site in

Hunterston Hunterston, by the Firth of Clyde, is a coastal area in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the seat and estate of the Hunter family. As an area of flat land adjacent to deep natural water, it has been the site of considerable actual and proposed industri ...

, Scotland. In Mid-2023, the Hunterston site received planning permission and is expected to start production in 2025. The first apprentices for the factory, which will employ 900 people, have already been recruited.

Project economics

The cost is estimated at £22bn, which will come from private investors, it is estimated half of this will be for the interconnector cabling. Though transmission losses for such a long cable will be relatively high at 13%, power should be available even at times when neither solar nor wind power is available in the UK, when prices will be higher. In April 2024, Xlinks released cost guidance that the project is seeking to secure

contracts for difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...

to supply electricity at £70-80/MWh (2012 pricing).

Project history

Xlinks, the project developer, was founded in 2018. Xlinks Ltd. was incorporated in March 2019. In September 2021, Xlinks stated that they "have secured with the Moroccan government an area of about for a combined wind and solar farm in Morocco". By October 2021, Xlinks stated that they have reached agreement with

National Grid plc National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

for two 1.8GW HVDC connections to the GB National Grid in Devon. In March 2022,

Intertek Intertek Group plc is a British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The ...

completed a ''Permit Feasibility Study'', which "outlines in detail the process Xlinks must follow to obtain the permits to survey the proposed route, install the cable system and complete the necessary maintenance throughout the project's operation life."

was also commissioned to provide Quality Assurance and technical advice on marine cable routing, survey specification and procurement. In May 2022,

invested in the project. In November 2023,

confirmed a £20 million pound investment in the project. In December 2023, WSP was contracted to expand technical advisory work on the project. In February 2024, Xlinks appointed James Humfrey as CEO of Xlinks First Ltd, to lead the Xlinks Morocco - UK Power Project to allow Xlinks founder and Group CEO of Xlinks Ltd, Simon Morrish to focus on developing future energy projects. In March 2024, it was reported that the developer was exploring additional future schemes, including between Morocco and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In April 2024,

GE Vernova GE Vernova, Inc., is an energy equipment manufacturing and services company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. GE Vernova was formed from the merger and subsequent spin-off of General Electric's energy businesses in 2024: GE Power, GE ...

and African Finance Corporation (AFC) invested into the project. In June 2025, the UK energy ministry rejected the project.

References

{{reflist

External links

Xlinks project page

Summary of project, including map of proposed cable route

Diagram of proposed route
Electrical interconnectors to and from Great Britain Electrical interconnectors to and from the Synchronous Grid of Continental Europe Proposed solar power stations Proposed wind farms Wind power in Morocco Solar power in Morocco