The chairman of X-Links has warned that delays in approval processes could cause the firm to relocate its UK-Morocco interconnector project to another country.
In an interview with The Telegraph, X-Links chairman Sir Dave Lewis hit out at the extreme bureaucracy that has thus far held back the UK-Morocco interconnector from planning approval. The project was unveiled in 2021 and due to its size and scale, was declared a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) in October 2023. However, the project has yet to receive planning approval from energy secretary Ed Miliband, halting development progress.
Once completed, the project will be able to deliver 3.6GW of clean energy to Britain via a 4,000km subsea cable connecting Devon, in the south of England, to a newly created 11.5GW solar and wind development in the province of Tan-Tan, Morocco.
However, Lewis has expressed frustration at the amount of time being taken to get the project greenlit by the UK government. He warned that X-Links is currently working on parallel plans to create the exact same project in Germany and another unnamed country, and claimed that these projects will be fast-tracked if the UK cannot make significant progress in the planning process in the next few months.
If the project were to move to another country, the future of another significant development project could also be threatened. Subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable manufacturer XLCC is currently developing a new factory in Scotland, parimairly in order to manufacture the cabling needed for the UK-Morocco interconnector project. In order to support this, the UK Investment Bank (UKIB) invested £20 million into XLCC, and a further £67 million investment from the UKIB could be accessed if and when the company achieves specific development and funding milestones. However, it is speculated that if X-Links moves the project out of the UK, this factory project could end with it.
The X-Links UK-Morocco project has itself received significant investment, including from GE Vernova and the Africa Finance Corporation. Lewis noted that while investors want the project to go ahead in the UK, the patience of the market and its stakeholders is not infinite. He stated: “We think this is by far and away the best use of this energy, but there comes a point where you go, ‘OK, we’re four years in. We’ve done everything that you asked us to do, but this process is taking an enormous amount of time.’”
