UK backs out of Morocco-UK renewable power project

The UK government is officially stepping back from talks on the Xlinks Morocco-UK renewable power project, as reported by Yabiladi on June 26th. The move stems from a desire to focus on “homegrown” energy in a statement explaining its rejection of the project.

The £25 billion (310 billion dirhams) renewable energy project was projected to import enough solar and wind power from Morocco using 4,000km of underwater cables. It was estimated to meet 8% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2030.

The decision, which had already surfaced in the British media before its formal announcement, was confirmed by Energy Minister Michael Shanks in a written statement to Parliament. “The government has concluded that it is not in the UK’s national interest at this time to continue further consideration of support for the Morocco-UK Power Project”, he stated.

Previously, at the Climate Innovation Forum on June 25th, Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, announced that the UK has a “hard-headed determination to get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets with cheaper, clean, homegrown energy that we control.”

Xlinks’ Chairman, Sir David Lewis, had anticipated a possible government pullback: “If the UK government does not agree to support the project, we will switch our focus to another country”, he told British media outlets earlier this year.

In May, the company requested a temporary pause in its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO), a key step for major infrastructure projects in the UK, while awaiting clarity on its Contract for Difference (CfD) bid.

Regarding the official end of the deal, he expressed being “surprised and bitterly disappointed” by the government’s decision to walk away from “an opportunity to unlock the substantial value that a large-scale renewable energy project like this would bring.”

The international NGO Greenpeace raised concerns about the project earlier this year. They argue that despite appearing mutually beneficial to Morocco and the UK, projects of this nature often end up perpetuating “unfair resource exploitation” that typically contribute “little to local economies”, and disrupt local people’s livelihoods.

Yabiladi.com, Maghrebi.org