The UK Energy Minister has confirmed that the government has formed a team to explore the viability of Xlinks, a 3,800km cable between Morocco and the UK. The UK Government has made recent progress towards embracing the proposed Xlinks renewable energy interconnector with Morocco.
The cable stretching 3,800 kilometres from Morocco to the UK has the potential to transmit sufficient electricity to power over seven million British households. Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, posed a written question to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero regarding the project’s progress. In response, Energy Minister Graham Stuart confirmed that the government had established a dedicated team within the department to consider the viability and merits of the proposal without making any commitments.
The team will assess how the Xlinks project could contribute to the UK’s energy security. According to the Powering Up Britain – Energy Security Plan, published a few days ago, the UK Government is “exploring the potential for international projects to provide clean, affordable and secure power and is interested in the Xlinks project, a proposed large scale onshore wind, solar and battery electricity generation site in Morocco that could supply power to the GB grid via subsea cables”.