Latest news with #Xlinks
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
UK backs away from renewable energy project to transport energy underwater from Morocco
The United Kingdom has stepped back from a project to transmit power generated by North Africa's winds and sun via underwater cables and is pivoting to other projects seen as less risky, British energy officials said Thursday. The country's Energy Security Department said in a statement that they would no longer support the $33 billion project due to a "high level of inherent risk, related to both delivery and security." The Morocco-UK Power Project was announced by the British company Xlinks in 2021 as part of an effort to create a global energy grid and ship power from places where it's cheap to produce to high-demand markets. Xlinks said the project would provide an equivalent of 8 per cent of Britain's current electricity needs, or roughly 7 million homes. "There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on," British minister Michael Schanks said in a statement, noting the inherent risk for taxpayers and consumers. The United Kingdom relies heavily on natural gas for its energy needs and aims to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last coal-fired power plant last year and offered partial financing to a raft of wind, solar and energy storage projects to help meet its goal. Such large-scale infrastructure projects typically rely on some governmental support or fixed prices per megawatt-hour. Xlinks was pursuing a fixed price agreement and has already received loans from investors including France's Total Energies and the development bank Africa Finance Corporation. Xlinks Board Chair Dave Lewis said in a statement that the company would continue pursuing the project despite the government's decision. "We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed," he said, noting that the company believed its project would offer electricity at cheaper rates and more quickly than other proposals, including to expand nuclear power. Xlinks is one of a slew of projects that reflect how European countries are looking south to North Africa for clean energy, testing whether it's cheaper to generate renewable power in ideal conditions far away and ship it, or to produce it domestically. The project would transmit electricity through nearly 4,000 kilometers of underwater cables encased in protective plastic and steel, with minimal transmission loss. If completed, it would be the largest interconnector of its kind, though smaller subsea cable networks already link the UK to neighboring European countries. In addition to Xlinks, transmission projects in Tunisia and Egypt aim to link solar and wind farms to Italy and Greece Moroccan officials did not respond to questions about the decision.
The National
a day ago
- Business
- The National
UK drops mega-project to transport energy underwater from Morocco
The UK has decided to abandon a mega-project intended to bring solar and wind energy from Morocco for use by domestic consumers. It stepped back from a plan to transmit power generated in Tan-tan province in Morocco's south through what would have been the world's longest underwater power cable and is pivoting to other projects seen as less risky, British energy officials said. The British government, which is aiming to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030, said it would no longer support the £25 billion ($33 billion) scheme due to a 'high level of inherent risk, related to both delivery and security". It said it believed domestic projects could offer better economic benefits. "The government has concluded that it is not in the UK national interest at this time to continue further consideration of support for the Morocco-UK Power Project," energy department minister Michael Shanks said in a written statement to parliament. He added the project did not clearly align strategically with the government's mission to create home-grown power in the UK. The project had originally been designated by the previous Conservative government as being of "national significance" but faced funding and regulatory hurdles. The Morocco-UK Power Project was announced by British company Xlinks in 2021 as part of a drive to create a global energy grid and ship power from places where it is cheap to produce to high-demand markets. Xlinks said the scheme would provide an equivalent of 8 per cent of Britain's current electricity needs, or about seven million homes. According to Xlinks, the project would have lowered wholesale electricity prices by 9 per cent and reduced the UK sector's carbon emissions by about 10 per cent. 'There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on," Mr Shanks said, noting the inherent risk for taxpayers and consumers. The UK relies heavily on natural gas for its energy needs and aims to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last coal-fired power plant last year and offered some financing to a string of wind, solar and energy storage projects to help meet its goal. Such large-scale infrastructure projects typically rely on some government support or fixed prices per megawatt-hour. Xlinks had sought government backing with a 25-year contract guaranteeing a fixed price for the electricity, and has already received loans from investors including France's Total Energies and development bank Africa Finance Corporation. Xlinks board chairman, former Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, said the company would continue pursuing the project despite the government's decision. 'We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed," he said, noting the company believed its project would offer electricity at cheaper rates and more quickly than other proposals, including to expand nuclear power. 'Over £100 million from leading energy sector players has already been spent on project development and demand from lenders to participate in the construction phase is greater than we require," he said. "We are now working to unlock the potential of the project and maximise its value for all parties in a different way." The Xlinks scheme is one of several projects that reflect how European countries are looking to North Africa for clean energy, testing whether it is cheaper to generate renewable power in ideal conditions far away and ship it, or to produce it domestically. The project would transmit electricity through nearly 4,000km of underwater cables encased in protective plastic and steel, with minimal transmission loss. If completed, it would be the world's largest interconnector, though smaller subsea cable networks already link the UK to neighbouring European countries. In addition, transmission projects in Tunisia and Egypt aim to link solar and wind farms to Italy and Greece. Britain is one of the leading players in renewable energy in Europe due to onshore and offshore wind power but still trails behind Scandinavian countries, which draw a large part of their electricity from wind and hydroelectric dams. The UK has set a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels and is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050. The government recently pledged more than £30 billion to relaunch nuclear power as an essential step for energy security and its climate ambitions.
Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Times
Ed Miliband pulls plug on Sahara sun and wind project
The government has pulled the plug on a £24 billion plan to bring Moroccan wind and solar power to Britain via the world's longest subsea electricity cable, citing concerns over security and costs. Xlinks, chaired by the former Tesco boss Sir Dave Lewis, has been seeking a government contract committing UK consumers to buy electricity from the ambitious project at a fixed, subsidised price for 25 years. Ed Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has now 'concluded that it is not in the UK national interest' to continue talks over the project, citing the myriad risks involved, as well as its mission 'to build homegrown power here in the UK'. • Sir Dave Lewis explains how Xlinks will solve the energy crisis Lewis said Xlinks was 'hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed' by the decision and would work to 'unlock the potential of the project and maximise its value for all parties in a different way.' It is understood to be exploring whether it can make the project financeable by striking deals with private companies to buy its power. Xlinks's plans involve building a vast solar, wind and battery storage facility covering 1,500 square miles of the Sahara desert in Morocco, and laying high voltage direct current cables to connect it to the UK power grid in Devon. It claims the project could be completed by the early 2030s and provide 3.6 gigawatts of reliable clean power for 19 hours a day, enough to supply 7 million homes or meet 8 per cent of Britain's electricity needs. The government said: 'This would be a first-of-a-kind mega project which has a high level of inherent, cumulative risk, delivery, operational, and security. We acknowledge the excellent work of Xlinks on trying to mitigate these risks where possible but nevertheless, this remains a factor in decision-making.' The Morocco-UK power link plan was hatched in 2019 by the entrepreneur Simon Morrish and unveiled in 2022 with an estimated price tag of £16 billion. That has since soared to between £22 billion and £24 billion. The contract price Xlinks was seeking for its power also soared, from £48/MWh in 2022 to £70-80/MWh today, all expressed in 2012 prices, akin to the contract for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which was set at £92.50/MWh in 2012 prices. The government said it had determined that there were 'stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on to meet the government's plans to decarbonise the power sector and accelerate to net zero at least risk to billpayers and taxpayers'. Xlinks has raised and spent £100 million on developing the project. It is backed by big name investors including Abu Dhabi's Taqa, Britain's largest household energy supplier Octopus Energy and the French oil and gas group TotalEnergies. Lewis said that the project offered 'a highly competitive' contract price and claimed it would reduce wholesale electricity prices in the UK by more than 9 per cent in its first year of operation and 'increase energy security through increased diversity of supply and reduced reliance on imported gas'. The government said it believed that 'domestic alternatives can see greater economic benefits whether that be through jobs or supply chains'. Xlinks hoped to source some of its cable from a sister project to build a new cabling factory in Scotland, but the majority would have come from Asia.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
UK backs away from renewable energy project to transport energy underwater from Morocco
CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The United Kingdom has stepped back from a project to transmit power generated by North Africa's winds and sun via underwater cables and is pivoting to other projects seen as less risky, British energy officials said Thursday. The country's Energy Security Department said in a statement that they would no longer support the $33 billion project due to a 'high level of inherent risk, related to both delivery and security.' The Morocco-UK Power Project was announced by the British company Xlinks in 2021 as part of an effort to create a global energy grid and ship power from places where it's cheap to produce to high-demand markets. Xlinks said the project would provide an equivalent of 8% of Britain's current electricity needs, or roughly 7 million homes. 'There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on,' British minister Michael Schanks said in a statement, noting the inherent risk for taxpayers and consumers. The United Kingdom relies heavily on natural gas for its energy needs and aims to generate all of its energyfrom renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last coal-fired power plant last year and offered partial financing to a raft of wind, solar and energy storage projects to help meet its goal. Such large-scale infrastructure projects typically rely on some governmental support or fixed prices per megawatt-hour. Xlinks was pursuing a fixed price agreement and has already received loans from investors including France's Total Energies and the development bank Africa Finance Corporation. Xlinks Board Chair Dave Lewis said in a statement that the company would continue pursuing the project despite the government's decision. 'We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed,' he said, noting that the company believed its project would offer electricity at cheaper rates and more quickly than other proposals, including to expand nuclear power. Xlinks is one of a slew of projects that reflect how European countries are looking south to North Africa for clean energy, testing whether it's cheaper to generate renewable power in ideal conditions far away and ship it, or to produce it domestically. The project would transmit electricity through nearly 4,000 kilometers of underwater cables encased in protective plastic and steel, with minimal transmission loss. If completed, it would be the largest interconnector of its kind, though smaller subsea cable networks already link the UK to neighboring European countries. In addition to Xlinks, transmission projects in Tunisia and Egypt aim to link solar and wind farms to Italy and Greece Moroccan officials did not respond to questions about the decision.
Morocco World
2 days ago
- Business
- Morocco World
UK Government Rejects £25 Billion Xlinks Morocco-UK Renewable Energy Project
Marrakech – The British government has decided to reject the major renewable energy project that would have imported solar and wind power from Morocco to the United Kingdom. According to Sky News, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband has chosen not to proceed with formal negotiations with Xlinks, a privately owned company seeking a 25-year price guarantee agreement. The £25 billion project, chaired by former Tesco chief executive Sir Dave Lewis, promised to deliver enough renewable energy to meet nearly 10% of the UK's electricity demand. The decision comes as a surprise to energy industry executives, as Xlinks had pledged to provide large quantities of power at approximately half the price of electricity generated by new nuclear power stations. A Whitehall insider indicated that the government's decision was partly motivated by a desire to focus on 'homegrown' energy supplies. This position was reinforced when Miliband stressed the government's 'pragmatic determination' to free itself from fossil fuel market fluctuations through local, clean, and less expensive energy that the country can control. Xlinks had been seeking to agree a 25-year contract for difference with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which would have guaranteed a price for the power generated by the project. The company was looking to secure its business model through this mechanism, also known as a 'compensatory gap contract,' particularly for financiers and funders. The project involved the construction of a 4,000-kilometer cable between Morocco and the Devon coast. It aimed to provide 3.6 gigawatts of clean, on-demand energy from solar, wind, and battery installations in Morocco to the UK, reducing the UK's carbon emissions by 10% and lowering wholesale electricity prices by 9.3%. Market-testing for the project's financing had been significantly oversubscribed, according to sources, with investors including Total, the French energy giant. The company had raised about £100 million in development funding so far. In an interview with Sky News in 2022, Sir Dave said Xlinks enjoyed low geopolitical risk because of Britain's centuries-old trading relationship with Morocco and the north African country's ambitions of growing the energy sector as a share of its exports. 'The Moroccan government has recognized that exporting green [energy] is a very important part of their economic plan going forward, so they have an export strategy,' he said at the time. 'The Sahara desert is probably one of the best places in the world to generate renewable energy from… so you have a very long period of generation. And if you're capturing that energy and adding some battery storage, you can generate energy to cover a little bit more than 20 hours a day, which makes it a fantastic partner for the UK.' Sir Dave had also noted that modern high-voltage cables meant energy could be transported 'over very long distances with very, very few losses.' He explained that the technology risks were relatively small, citing examples of much longer cable links being planned elsewhere in the world. 'The benefit here is that it's proven technology with a very committed reliable partner with a cost profile… that we will never [be able to] match in the UK,' he added. Earlier this year, Sir Dave told The Sunday Telegraph that Xlinks would switch its focus to another country if the UK government did not agree to support the project. The company is now expected to explore other commercial opportunities. In late May, Xlinks requested a pause in the procedure to obtain the Development Consent Order (DCO) while awaiting a response from the British department of energy security and net zero regarding the Contract for Difference. In its letter, Xlinks cited 'exceptional circumstances beyond control' and believed that a pause 'would allow the review process to proceed in the most efficient and rigorous manner possible, while ensuring that the DCO could then progress quickly.' It is worth noting that the Morocco-UK project was integrated into the UK's strategic energy vision in 2022 and recognized as a project of national importance in 2023. A ministerial statement confirming the decision to reject the project is expected later today. Tags: Morocco and UKrenewable energyXlinks project
