The Telegraph highlights Morocco’s renewable energy potential

The Telegraph highlighted Morocco’s energy export potential describing the country as a “renewable energy superpower at Europe’s doorsteps.”

The daily recalls that the country – thanks to the forward-looking leadership of King Mohammed VI- managed to promote renewable sources of energy to account for 40% of its energy mix as it forges ahead to surpass 50% by 2030.

Morocco’s energy minister Leila Benali, who spoke to the paper, voiced confidence in reaching that target which requires tripling renewable energy capacity from 4 gigawatts currently.

“Benali and her colleagues in government hope renewables will help to transform their country’s fortunes in the same way oil did for Norwar,” the paper comments.

It also pointed to the ongoing large-scale projects such as the Xlinks interconnection which plans to export clean energy from the Moroccan desert to the UK using undersea cables.

The Xlinks scheme, which is chaired by former Tesco boss Dave Lewis, would generate 10.5 gigawatts of electricity from solar panels and wind turbines that cover 930 square miles in western Morocco.

“It would then transport 3.6 gigawatts of power directly to the UK – enough to power seven million homes, or 8pc of Britain’s electricity needs – via a 2,300-mile undersea cable hugging the coasts of Spain and France before making landfall in Devon,” it said.

Interest grew in the project after it featured for the first time in the UK’s energy security strategy, dubbed Powering Up Britain.

“The Government is interested in the Xlinks project, a proposed large-scale onshore wind, solar and battery electricity generation site in Morocco that would exclusively supply power to the GB grid via high voltage direct current subsea cables,” reads the document.