Morocco can play a key role in the UK's clean energy mission
4 min read
Sourcing energy from a country with a guaranteed supply of sunshine and wind would help the government in its mission to bring down energy bills.
The average British family’s dual fuel bill will hit £1,849 per year from next month (APR). Ofgem’s latest price cap, which comes into force on 1 April and runs until 30 June, is a £111 (6.4 per cent) rise on the previous £1,738 limit set between 1 January and 31 March – another hammer blow to under-pressure households fearful of a renewed cost-of-living crisis.
Labour came to power last summer promising a £300-a-year price cut for the typical family’s gas and electricity costs. To bring down prices, we need to increase the supply of renewable energy and reduce our reliance on imported gas, the costs of which can fluctuate wildly. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered huge rises in wholesale gas costs which, without government action, would have left many frightened families simply unable to afford their monthly bills.
There is a political consensus over the need to boost UK energy resilience, with a diverse range of views about how we achieve that. As a former defence minister in the 2010-2015 coalition government, I know the importance of increasing our ability to withstand geopolitical turmoil. I believe we should aim for green solutions. Weaning ourselves off outdated fossil fuels is key to combating the climate crisis.
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Increasing the amount of power generated by renewables will make us less dependent on – and less at the mercy of – foreign dictators, as we try to maintain the uninterrupted flow of electricity we all, understandably, take for granted.
Back in the autumn, an ex-colleague drew to my attention an innovative project involving my old stomping ground in north Devon, where I was previously MP. He is working to promote a new reliable supply of green power destined exclusively for Britain, a world-leading plan currently being examined by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. He asked if I would support it.
Chaired by former Tesco boss Sir Dave Lewis, Xlinks wants to bring to Britain from Morocco enough wind and solar energy to power seven million British homes – eight per cent of all our electricity needs via a dedicated, exclusive link. By harnessing Moroccan sunshine and wind, and building on a 300-year-old trading relationship with the North African kingdom, the Morocco-UK Power Project could provide an average of 3.6GW for more than 19 hours a day, backed up by battery storage.
Electricity would be transferred to Britain via four, 2,485 mile (4,000km) armoured HVDC cables buried at least a metre under the seabed, coming ashore on Devon’s north coast. The scheme uses technology the world has been utilising for 214 years, when the first submarine cable to carry electricity was laid across the Isar River in Bavaria. And the well-protected cables would travel through the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of NATO allies – adding an extra layer of security.
Sourcing energy from a country which has a guaranteed supply of wind and sun would help combat Dunkelflaute – a German term for the gloomy, still, dank days when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. Britain’s existing renewable power systems are inherently vulnerable to the vagaries of British weather – as the most recent winter demonstrated. In contrast, Morocco’s green, desert power can tackle the intermittency of the UK’s weather-dependent turbines and solar panels.
As a former MP in Devon, I am proud to see the county at the forefront of plans to decarbonise the UK’s grid and happy to speak up for this project. It will deploy existing, proven, reliable technology on a game-changing scale and would unlock more than £20bn of socio-economic benefit for the UK. As well as hauling down wholesale energy prices and cutting emissions, it would help Britain meet our ever-rising demand for electricity and tackle the grave risk of our country becoming overly reliant on cloudless, breezy days to boil our kettles, watch our televisions and fuel our electric vehicles.
Ministers are, rightly, pursuing an economic growth strategy partly based on boosting renewable energy; Xlinks can contribute here, too. Its strategic partner XLCC is building the world’s biggest HVDC facility in Scotland to support Xlinks and other schemes – giving the UK the chance to reap the economic benefits, including upskilling the workforce and providing hundreds of jobs.
With an ever-expanding appetite for energy – which will only accelerate with the necessary pursuit of power-hungry AI – we will need all the tools and innovation at our disposal to meet that demand.
Sir Nick Harvey was Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon from 1992 to 2015 and minister of state for the armed forces from 2010 to 2012.
