Miliband rejects plans for £25bn energy cable to Sahara solar farms

Telegraph

26-06-2025

Ed Miliband has turned down a scheme to import solar and wind power from Morocco via a 2,500-mile long subsea cables.
The Xlinks scheme, overseen by Sir Dave Lewis, the former Tesco chief, would see high-voltage direct current power imported from North Africa through cables running along the coasts of Spain, Portugal and France, and coming ashore in Torridge, Devon.
The scheme was expected to provide electricity for 9m homes and cut carbon emissions from the UK power sector by around 10pc – while also bringing down energy bills through a reduction in wholesale costs.
However, the Energy Secretary is understood to have refused to back the £25bn project, which was seeking subsidies from the Government.
Xlinks had asked for a contract for difference, which would effectively guarantee a minimum price for its power for up to 25 years. Mr Miliband is understood to instead want to focus on 'homegrown' energy projects.
The subsea cables were to be made at a factory in Scotland and the power would have exceeded the output of Hinkley C, the £42bn nuclear power station being built by EDF in Somerset.
It is understood that Xlinks is also seeking separate finance via power purchase agreements, where companies contract to buy clean power directly from generators. This means it could still go ahead if there is sufficient private sector interest.
However, Mr Miliband's decision is still a significant set-back.
Sir Dave told The Telegraph in March that Xlinks could take its project elsewhere if ministers did not back it.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has refused to comment on 'speculation' but made clear that a full statement was expected later today. Xlinks was not able to comment pending the Government statement.
Xlinks would see seven solar farms and up to 1,000 wind turbines built across an area of Moroccan desert roughly the size of Greater London.
Once completed, the scheme is expected to deliver about 3.6 gigawatts of electricity to the UK's national grid – equating to about 8pc of total power demand.
Electricity would delivered to the UK via four large subsea cables laid by a ship owned by Xlinks's sister company, XLCC, which is also building a factory at Hunterston in Scotland to manufacture the 10,000 miles of cable.
Such cables, known as interconnectors, already link the UK's power grid to France, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands, with another link to Denmark under construction.
The factory, adjacent to the town's closed nuclear power stations, was granted planning permission last year and awarded a £9m Scottish Enterprise grant towards its £1.4bn cost.
Its centrepiece will be a massive 600-foot tower in which the cable will be coated in layers of insulation before being coiled onto giant reels for loading into the cable-laying vessel.
Xlinks has already raised £100m from financial backers thought to include the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, along with French giant TotalEnergies and British supplier Octopus Energy.
Interconnectors are becoming increasingly important in keeping the nation's lights on as the country shifts towards a reliance on intermitted renewable energy.
The UK gets up to 20pc of its electricity from France and other neighbors at some times of the year.