Xlinks subsea cable project linking Morocco to the UK will be delayed at least by 2023, following the recent political changes in London, reported the Observer on Sunday.
The £18 billion ($22 billion) project has been delayed, as many changes have occurred in the UK government recently, which has seen three prime ministers come to power in less than six months.
The political changes slowed down the subsea cable progress, explained the same source.
“We spent a long time with the then-business secretary (Kwasi Kwarteng) who said: ‘We like it a lot but it needs to go through Treasury.’ There was a review with Treasury, Cabinet Office and the business department, which was very positive,” Dave Lewis told The Observer.
The Morocco – UK Power Project will speed up the UK’s transition to net-zero by laying four 3,800km-long subsea cables to connect a huge renewable energy farm in the Moroccan desert with Devon in South West England.
The subsea project is set to become operational by 2027, once up and running. Xlinks is expected to deliver power at £48/MWh (comparable with the offshore wind).
The partnership comes as the UK government is working on strengthening the country’s energy supply routes as outlined in its Energy Security Strategy, lowering its dependence on Russian gas imports whilst lowering prices for consumers and moving the country closer to net zero, according to the company’s press release.
The power cable would run along the Moroccan coast, then through Portugal, northern Spain, and western France before looping around the Scilly Isles Scilly and finishing in Devon, England, where Xlinks has already approved 1.8 gigatonne connections, specified the Observer.
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