Sir Dave Lewis, chairman of clean energy company Xlinks
If the undersea cable project linking Morocco to the United Kingdom is launched before the end of this year, it could provide electricity as early as 2027, said Friday Sir Dave Lewis, president of the company specialized in clean energy Xlinks. . Speaking on Ian King’s ‘Business podcast’ on Sky News, Sir Lewis said the cable will be linked to the national grid in North Devon, saying that ‘if the project is launched before the end of this year, electricity will start circulating in 2027 and the project will be able to run at its maximum potential in 2030”. Trade relations with Morocco are one of the UK’s oldest, he noted, adding that the export of green energy is part of Morocco’s future economic strategy.
The Moroccan Sahara is “one of the best places in the world to generate green energy” since it enjoys a bright sun, but also a lot of wind at the end of the day, which makes it possible to significantly increase the power generation period up to 18 hours a day, he said. All this makes Morocco “an important partner for the United Kingdom”, he said. Indeed, this cable will provide energy at a price more attractive than that which the United Kingdom will pay for its future Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, he estimated. “The energy that will come from Morocco as part of the Xlinks project will be at 48 pounds per megawatt-hour, against 92.5 pounds / MWH to be expected for energy from Hinkley Point C”, he detailed. . “The cable that will connect the two countries will be 3,800 km and, as part of the project, we will build three new factories in the United Kingdom for its manufacture”, he continued, stressing that the realization of the project should take four years and cost about 16 billion pounds, half of which for the manufacture of the cable and the links.
This will allow the UK to have a new production chain in the renewable energy sector, he argued. Regarding the reliability of this technique, Sir Lewis explained that there are currently long-distance high-voltage cables on the surface and under water. “The longest being that which connects Norway to the United Kingdom”. “This is a technology that has already proven itself and that we will put in place with a reliable and committed partner, Morocco,” he said. It will offer energy at very competitive prices and will participate in the industrial development of several regions of the United Kingdom, in addition to supplying, ultimately, eight percent of the country’s electricity needs, concluded the former president of Rolls Royce. Holdings.