UK’s XLCC sets up subsea cable factory for Morocco project
The UK’s XLCC is planning the setting up of a factory in Hunterston, Scotland, to manufacture the world’s largest subsea cable that will send clean energy from Morocco to the UK.
Connecting the solar and wind plants in Morocco with Alverdiscott, North Devon, will start with a first phase in 2025-2027, Electric.co reported.
The connection will nearly double the world’s current production of HVDC cable manufacturing with XLCC promising to use British steel.
The undersea cable will comprise 90,000 tons of steel and will follow the shallow water route from Morocco to the UK, past Spain, Portugal, and France.
The project will cost $21.9 billion. Xlinks will construct 7 GW of solar and 3.5 GW of wind, along with onsite 20GWh/5GW battery storage, in Morocco.
The transmission cable will consist of four cables. The first cable will be active in early 2027, and the other three are slated to launch in 2029. An agreement has been reached with the National Grid for two 1.8GW connections at Alverdiscott in Devon.
Xlinks says that the Morocco-UK Power Project will be capable of powering a whopping 7 million UK homes by 2030. Once complete, the project will be capable of supplying 8% of Britain’s electricity needs.
