A clear British confirmation of the British government’s determination and its study of the clean electric interconnection project between Morocco and the United Kingdom “X-Links” to generate clean electricity in Morocco, and then transmit it through the “longest submarine cable in the world” that is expected to link the Guelmim-Oued Noun region in the Moroccan desert with areas inside Britain .
The confirmation came explicitly with the allocation of mentioning the project in its name, with reference to examining its capabilities within the contents of the energy strategy in the United Kingdom published on March 30 under the title “Powering Up Britain – Energy Security Plan.”
The British government said, in its document, which was seen by the Hespress electronic newspaper: “As we set out in the British energy security strategy, we are actively exploring the potential of international projects to provide clean, affordable and safe energy,” expressing its great interest in the project with Morocco and its promising economic and energy potential.
In this regard, “the British government is reportedly interested in the Xlinks project, a proposed large-scale wind, solar and battery generation site in Morocco that would exclusively supply power to the UK electricity grid via high-voltage direct-current subsea cables.”
It revealed that “the British government is considering, studying and examining – without obligation – the feasibility and merits of this proposed project in order to understand whether it can contribute to the energy security of the United Kingdom.”
The British “Energy Security Strategy”, according to the same source, includes the government’s blueprint for the future of energy in the United Kingdom, explaining how to diversify energy production by investing in renewable energy sources to provide energy, consumers, climate and economic security. This project is among the “investments with a future dimension” incision points. .
The Xlinks project is an integrated project to produce electricity from renewable energies derived from wind and solar energy intended for export to Britain. According to the published maps, it is planned to pass through the coasts of Morocco, Portugal and France before reaching Britain. While its total completion cost is estimated at 18 billion pounds ($20 billion).
In turn, the company supervising the project did not delay the interaction with the newcomer, praising the “naming of the project by the UK government as one of the future investment aspiration options within the Powering up Britain policy paper,” according to a communiqué issued by it, seen by Hespress.
The report quoted its managing director, Simon Morrish, as saying: “We welcome the UK government’s determination to work with Xlinks to deliver on our renewable energy project. The first-of-its-kind Xlinks Morocco – UK Power Project will meet up to 8 percent of UK electricity demand with renewable energy, reducing consumer bills and increasing security of supply in the process.”
And the company considered, within its interaction, that “the British official paper defines the most important in how Britain needs and benefits from energy imports, now and in the future, while securing energy supplies based on diversified sources of supply and relations with strong and reliable partners and allies such as Morocco.”
It is worth noting that the same huge project had previously been granted “permission to install approximately 12 million solar panels and 530 wind turbines on an area of 370 square miles of desert in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region within the southern provinces of the Kingdom, before energy is transferred in the horizon of supplying more.” Seven million British homes will be equipped with clean energy by 2030, according to specialized British media sources.
Earlier, the subsidiary cable manufacturer “XLCC” had announced the start of work on the first phase of the construction of the longest “submarine cable” between Britain and Morocco in the period from 2025 to 2027, with the aim of transmitting clean energy from the Moroccan Sahara regions to the United Kingdom.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to start in 2029, with the second phase to start two years later, i.e. in 2031.