Ge vernova funds renewable energy interconnection between the UK and Morocco

An investment of $10.2 million is made by GE Vernova in “Xlinks”… while the project is expected to cost $30 billion to construct.

GE Vernova has invested $10.2 million in “Xlinks First”, a British company that plans to launch a huge renewable energy project in Morocco and extend a 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) undersea cable to deliver energy to Britain.

This investment helped support Xlinks First’s latest funding round, which has raised $110 million to date, according to CEO James Humphrey. It is also a step forward in the company’s journey to launch the project, the construction cost of which is estimated at approximately 24 billion pounds ($30.1 billion).

Through the world’s longest undersea power cable, Xlinks‘s proposed wind, solar, and battery power station in Morocco is expected to supply the UK with 3.6 gigawatts of electricity. With a more stable supply of sunshine and wind in Morocco, the project could ensure Britain has clean, reliable, and cheaper electricity, especially during times of low UK production.

List of investors in the project:

GE Vernova will join a group of investors in this project, including France’s Total Energies, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and Octopus Energy, the largest retail energy supplier in the United Kingdom.

The company is engaged in talks with the government to grant it access to the support mechanism used primarily by offshore wind farms at present.

To be feasible, the project will also need an implementation price of between 70 and 80 pounds per megawatt hour, according to 2012 evaluations, according to Humphrey. This figure is higher than the UK price for onshore wind and solar, but lower than the £92.50 per megawatt hour price given to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

Humphrey said that Xlinks is still in the development phase and plans to use most of the funding it has raised to conduct detailed research along the route it aims to lay its cable.