The United Kingdom has withdrawn its support for a major renewable energy project that aimed to supply power from Morocco to Britain through underwater cables, citing concerns over security and delivery risks.
The UK’s Energy Security Department said on Thursday it would no longer back the $33 billion Morocco-UK Power Project, led by British company Xlinks, due to the "high level of inherent risk" associated with the initiative.
“There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on,” said British Energy Minister Michael Schanks. He added the decision was made to protect taxpayers and consumers from potential cost and delivery failures.
The project, announced in 2021, aimed to deliver wind and solar power from Morocco to the UK via nearly 4,000 kilometres of subsea cables — enough to supply 8% of Britain’s current electricity needs, or roughly 7 million homes. If completed, it would become the world’s largest interconnector of its kind.
Despite the UK’s withdrawal, Xlinks said it intends to continue. “We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed,” said Xlinks Chair Dave Lewis. “We believe this project would deliver cheaper, faster electricity than other options — including nuclear.”
Xlinks had already secured financial backing from investors including France’s TotalEnergies and the Africa Finance Corporation. The company was also pursuing a fixed-price agreement for electricity generation.
The move highlights growing caution in Britain around large-scale overseas infrastructure projects, even as European countries increasingly look to North Africa as a source of affordable, clean energy. Similar transmission projects are under development to link solar and wind farms in Tunisia and Egypt with Italy and Greece.
Moroccan authorities have not commented publicly on the UK’s decision.
Russian strikes targeting Ukraine's energy sector killed at least 11 people across the country early on Wednesday, Ukrainian Presiden...
The Houthis attacked Aden International Airport with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones early Wednesday, Yemen’s Transport Ministr...
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, p...
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
A large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region has killed two people, damaged homes and sparked a major fire at a key fuel facility, according to Russian officials and military bloggers.
An Azerbaijani citizen died and another is missing after a cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea, near the coast of Romania on Monday, 5 October, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
Police fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools on Tuesday as students, teachers and parents took to the streets on the biggest day of action in a wave of demonstrations against understaffed and dilapidated classrooms.
Russian strikes targeting Ukraine's energy sector killed at least 11 people across the country early on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Flats, industrial plants and infrastructure were also damaged in the attacks, Ukrainian officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, prompting health authorities to launch an urgent contact-tracing operation.
Kosovo's parliament has elected economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's new president, concluding a dramatic political process just hours before a constitutional deadline that threatened to dissolve the legislature.
The U.S. military has tightened restrictions on its personnel in Okinawa following the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of murder, a case that has reignited long-standing tensions over the American military presence on the southern Japanese island.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment