Miliband rejects plans for £25bn energy cable to Sahara solar farms
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Brussels hits out at Orban for banning Budapest Pride parade
Mr Orban's government has warned that anyone attending the march faced fines of about £426 and a criminal record. Facial recognition technology could be used and organisers face up to a year in prison. The ban, announced by police last week, is justified by the ruling Fidesz party on child protection grounds. It comes after Hungary banned LGBT people from featuring in school educational materials or TV shows for the under-18s. In 2021, EU leaders angrily confronted Mr Orban at a summit over the 'gay propaganda' law, then a proposal. Earlier this month, a top advisor to the European Court of Justice warned it broke EU law. Mrs von der Leyen's equalities commissioner Hadja Lahbib will be in Budapest on Friday and may attend the march. Organisers claim that ministers from several EU countries will also be in the capital in a show of support. Several members of the European Parliament have also said they will attend the march, which is organised by Budapest's city hall. The Hungarian government has written to EU embassies warning ambassadors and their staff not to attend the march, warning that police had banned the gathering. March organisers have written to the envoys in turn, insisting the police do not have the authority to ban the event. Drumming up support Mr Orban's culture war with the liberal metropolitans of Budapest is intended to fire up his support among more conservative, rural voters ahead of elections next year. Since he returned to power in 2010, he has angered liberal EU allies with a series of laws targeting the LGBT community, while demanding a rollback of Brussels overreach. When he arrived at the summit on Thursday, Mr Orban was asked if he would allow one of his five children to attend Pride. 'They're grown-ups,' he told reporters. 'They can make their own decisions.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
British billpayers saved £300m through energy flexibility in 2024, figures show
British billpayers saved more than £300 million by switching the time at which they turned on their washing machines or ovens, according to figures released by the industry body for network operators. The data shows households and businesses reduced their bills by changing the time or day they used electricity – such as by cooking or washing earlier or later in the day, or setting electric cars to charge at specific times. In the past when most of the UK's electricity generators were fossil-fuel power plants, supply of electricity adapted to demand. Today as the wind and the sun influence when renewables are being produced, incentivising users to adapt their demand to when there is a lot of supply can help take pressure off the grid. Flexibility can also be a valuable tool to optimise capacity while longer-term infrastructure upgrades are planned and delivered. The Energy Network Association (ENA) on Thursday said electricity networks in Great Britain secured a record high of 9 gigawatts (GW) of flexibility last year. In turn, a total of 22 gigawatt-hours of flexibility was harnessed across the network – enough to power almost 7,000 average UK households for a full year, according to the figures. It represents a three-fold increase since the previous year, which is the biggest jump since data collection began in 2017, ENA said. The industry group also revealed that flexibility is projected to deliver over £3 billion in savings over the next three years. This will be driven by lower contributions to infrastructure costs, reduced connection charges and the increased use of low-carbon energy sources, it said. Dr Avinash Aithal, head of open networks at ENA, said: 'It's been tremendous to see the boom in the flexibility market over the past year. 'Flexibility is becoming more mainstream thanks to industry efforts to remove barriers to participation and simplify the market processes overall. The outcome of our efforts are now clear to see, with significant savings for consumers and the wider energy industry. 'Great Britain is now a global leader in energy flexibility,' he added. 'Together, ENA and industry have paved the way for the whole of Great Britain to participate in and benefit from the energy flexibility market.' Last year, a majority (80%) of flexibility came from non-fossil fuel sources – 10 times the capacity of the UK's largest solar farm, ENA said. While the majority of flexibility services came from commercial organisations, householders can also reap the benefits of using electric car chargers and heat pumps, for example, at non-peak times. It comes as Ofgem said the energy market needs more complex time-based tariffs to encourage consumers to use power at different times. The regulator's chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, told MPs that the tariffs would in some cases 'dramatically reduce bills'. The tariffs, also called time-of-use (TOU) tariffs or multi-rate tariffs, offer cheaper electricity at times when there is lower demand on the National Grid.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Valencia CF secures $377 million financing for Nou Mestalla stadium
SINGAPORE, June 26 (Reuters) - Valencia CF has secured financing totaling 322 million euros ($377 million) for the development of the Nou Mestalla stadium, the Spanish football club said on Thursday. The financing, comprising 237 million euros of notes and 85 million euros of a short-term loan, is one of the biggest transactions ever completed by a professional football club in Spain and across Europe, Valencia said in a statement. "Securing this landmark financing gives us the green light to deliver Nou Mestalla - a world-class stadium that will power the club's growth for generations," Kiat Lim, Valencia CF President, said in the statement. Lim is the son of Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, who is the club's majority owner. The stadium, which is located in the city of Valencia and will have over 70,000 seats, is scheduled to open in 2027. It is expected to multiply the revenue currently generated at its old Mestalla facility, Valencia CF said. "Given the expanded hospitality, greater capacity, and multi-purpose event hosting, early estimates suggest that we will be more than tripling the current revenue," Kiat Lim said. Valencia CF was advised by Bibium Capital, Addleshaw Goddard, Beka Titulizacion and Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, with Spain's La Liga providing support to the club in the process, according to the statement. ($1 = 0.8547 euros)
