The cable that will supply Britain with solar energy from the desert is being built here

The cable will be among the longest in the world. It will extend from the Sahara Desert in Morocco to Alfrediscott in southwest Great Britain. It will be placed on the seabed along the western coast of Europe. The project is called the Xlinks Morocco-UK Energy Project.

The company that will build the cable is called XLCC. Over the summer, the company obtained planning consent for the plant, which will be built in Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland. The site includes a deep-water port and two decommissioned nuclear power reactors. The plant will be the first in the UK to manufacture high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables.

A tower 180 meters high

Four cables, each with a length of 3,800 kilometers, will be manufactured at the factory, which is estimated to create 900 jobs. What has sparked local controversy is the impact the nearly 180-metre high extrusion tower will have on the surrounding area. In the tower, cable insulation is applied. The application is done vertically in a tower so that the process can be cooled. In Karlskrona in Blekinge there is a similar tower belonging to the cable manufacturer NKT. Its height is 150 metres.

The electricity to be transmitted via the cable in Morocco is generated by a 7 GW solar power plant and a 3.5 GW wind power plant. The project, whose cost is estimated at 17 billion pounds, equivalent to 213 billion kroner, includes a storage battery with a capacity of 20 gigawatts/5 gigawatts.

The goal is to begin construction of the factory at the beginning of next year. Construction Enquirer Reports. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by 2030 and will supply seven million British households with electricity.