Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project Provides Longest Submarine High Voltage Cable

A power plant in Morocco will supply the UK with clean energy via the longest submarine high-voltage cable. The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project will be a combined solar and wind power plant. The plant's capacity will be 10.5 GW. High voltage DC cables with a total length of 3,800 km will be used to transmit power to the UK.

The power plant will cover an area of ​​approximately 1,500 km 2, and the project will cost $ 21.9 billion. Approximately 7 GW of capacity will be produced by a solar power plant, and another 3.5 GW will be provided by a wind farm. To transmit all the energy, four cables will be needed, the first of which will be continued until 2027, and the three remaining ones will be commissioned in 2029. As a result, in 2030, the Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project will be able to provide electricity to about 7 million British households, covering 8% of the country's total electricity needs.

As for the concept itself, which implies the location of the power plant almost 4,000 km from the consumer, Xlinks explains this by the natural features of Morocco. The country has the third-highest global horizontal illumination (GHI) in North Africa, 20% more than Spain's GHI and more than double that of the UK. Plus, the shortest winter day still offers over 10 hours of sunshine.