Green power mega-project could ditch UK unless it wins backing soon
Xlinks chair worried that investors in project, which include TotalEnergies, GE Vernova and Octopus Energy, are 'frustrated' by lack of progress and could spend money elsewhere
A company that plans to power millions of UK homes by connecting them to a vast array of wind and solar farms in the Moroccan desert has warned it may take the project elsewhere if it doesn’t soon win government backing.
Sir Dave Lewis, chair of Xlinks, issued the warning regarding the UK company’s plan to build a 4,000km subsea interconnector linking a vast renewables array in the Sahara Desert to British shores.
Xlinks aims to harness 3.6GW of wind and solar generation, combined with flexible battery storage, on a scale that would meet around 8% of the UK’s current electricity needs.
“The people who have invested in this project want it to go ahead in the UK,” said Lewis. “We think that’s 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.’”
“International investors won’t wait forever,” he said.
“The worry is that some of your investors and sources of financing have their heads turned and go off and do other stuff, and at some point you’re struggling to sort of keep them on board.”
After enduring the uncertainty caused by “five energy ministers in less than three years” under the Conservatives, with numerous “stops and starts,” and then last year’s general election when Labour won power, he said that the investors are “genuinely getting a little bit frustrated.”
Despite those frustrations, Lewis said that investors are still generally very keen on the project. "There are people lining up and down the street," he said, claiming that when the company recently tested debt markets for £17bn ($22bn) in financing needed it was "significantly oversubscribed."