Latest news with #DevelopmentConsentOrder
Morocco World
3 days ago
- Business
- Morocco World
Xlinks Pauses UK-Morocco Undersea Power Cable Project Amid Regulatory Delays
Doha – Xlinks, the British company behind the ambitious project to connect Morocco and the United Kingdom via undersea power cables, has temporarily paused its Development Consent Order (DCO) examination process. In a May 14 letter to the UK Planning Inspectorate, the company requested this halt while awaiting a crucial decision on its Contract for Difference (CfD) from the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. The pause comes as the company seeks financial certainty through a CfD that would guarantee fixed electricity prices for 25 years. According to company sources close to the matter, this is 'a pause in the DCO process, not a suspension,' aimed at preventing 'misalignment of different project development stages.' The main issue holding up the project is the need for price certainty. Xlinks is seeking a guaranteed price of £77 per megawatt-hour for solar energy and £87 for wind energy produced in Morocco's Guelmim-Oued Noun region. Without this financial commitment, investors are reluctant to move forward with the necessary funding. 'Without this clear commitment on a stable price, Xlinks' financial partners are hesitant to inject the necessary investments,' the company stated. Dave Lewis, Xlinks' chairman, has expressed frustration over the delays and frequent ministerial changes in the UK's energy department. In a January interview with Bloomberg, Lewis noted that the undersea cable project could generate up to £24 billion (MAD 300 billion) in investments, with approximately £5 billion in Great Britain alone. The project was designated as a 'nationally significant infrastructure project' by the British government in 2023, highlighting its strategic importance to the UK's energy security. It aims to provide power to nine million British households and reduce CO2 emissions from the UK energy sector by 10%. Read also: Former UK Minister: Morocco Key Player in Britain's Clean Energy Mission The proposed 3,900-kilometer cable would traverse Portuguese, Spanish, and French coastal waters to connect Morocco's renewable energy facilities with the British grid. If completed, it would deliver 3.6 gigawatts of electricity generated from solar parks, wind farms, and battery storage systems. Facing continued delays, Xlinks has begun exploring alternatives. Lewis told The Telegraph in early April that if the British government's response was further delayed, shareholders might redirect resources toward other projects under development, including a potential Morocco-Germany connection. The company opted for direct negotiations with the government rather than going through a tender process, which has contributed to the delays. Political instability in the UK has further complicated negotiations. Meanwhile, competition is emerging. Australian group Fortescue is developing a similar 100-gigawatt electrical connection project between North Africa and the European Union. Fortescue's chairman, Andrew Forrest, has confirmed discussions with Ed Miliband, the British Secretary of State for Energy Security, and various European governments about installing multiple undersea cables that could transport up to 500 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually—nearly equivalent to Germany's total annual consumption. Even with the most favorable outcome, Xlinks' complex authorization process is unlikely to conclude before 2026. While the company targets a 2030 launch date, effective service might not begin until 2031 at the earliest—a timeline that has investors increasingly concerned. The project has already received authorization from the Moroccan side, but still requires approvals from France, Spain, and Portugal, which the cables would cross. Tags: UK MoroccoXlinks project
Ya Biladi
3 days ago
- Business
- Ya Biladi
Xlinks requests pause in UK permit process as it awaits pricing decision for Morocco–UK project
Xlinks, the company behind the 4,000 km subsea cable to deliver solar and wind-generated electricity from Morocco to the UK, has paused its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO)—a legal authorization required for large infrastructure projects in the UK. Xlinks formally requested the pause in a letter to the UK Planning Inspectorate on May 14, explaining that it wants to wait for the outcome of its Contract for Difference (CfD) bid before proceeding. The CfD is a pricing mechanism that allows renewable energy developers to lock in a fixed price for their electricity over a set period, ensuring financial stability for large-scale projects. Xlinks expects a decision in late spring and is seeking a price of £70–80 per megawatt-hour (MWh), lower than comparable projects. Aligning project stages The Planning Inspectorate's answer was swift, granting Xlinks said pause on May 15. Sources close to the project told Yabiladi that the pause is not a suspension or cancellation, but a strategic move to align project stages. «The purpose of the pause is to allow the review process to proceed as efficiently and rigorously as possible, while ensuring that the DCO can then progress rapidly», they explained. It is worth noting that the Morocco–UK Power Project aims to deliver 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of dispatchable, clean energy from solar, wind, and battery facilities in Morocco to the UK. The project, which could cost up to £24 billion, is expected to cut UK carbon emissions by 10% and reduce wholesale electricity prices by 9.3%. In 2022, the project was included in the UK's strategic energy vision and recognized as a project of national significance in 2023. For the record, Xlinks has expressed frustration over delays in receiving UK government backing for the project, warning it could move the initiative to another country. Speaking to local media in March, Sir Dave Lewis, chairman of Xlinks, said that the delays in securing government approval are undermining investor confidence.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Our homes were taken for a road that was never built'
In October 2024 the government announced it was cancelling a project to widen part of the A1 in Northumberland, years after National Highways had spent more than £4m on the purchase of houses and land in the way of the scheme. The affected families - including one couple who had to start afresh miles away in Cumbria - said they had "been through hell" as they saw their properties "left to rot" unnecessarily. Melanie Wensby-Scott sat in her car and cried on the day she and her husband left Northgate House, which sits right next to the road not far from Morpeth. The couple had been packing up the last of their belongings and she was still running the vacuum cleaner around when National Highways contractors arrived. "They started boarding up the windows and changing the locks," she said. "I honestly felt like we were being evicted." Melanie and her husband Julian had had "big plans" when they bought the house in 2009. "We put in a new kitchen, new bathrooms, we were planning a new conservatory and we had no intention of ever leaving," she said. But in 2014, the then Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to dual a 13-mile section of the A1 and it became clear their house was in the path of the chosen route. "When they first came round I said I didn't want to move and they basically said I had no option," said Mrs Wensby-Scott. "It was just awful to know you were going to lose your home." The A1 scheme stalled for a few years, alternating between ready to start and still on hold until, in May 2024, Rishi Sunak's government approved the Development Consent Order which gave the final go-ahead. However, Labour swept back into power two months later and cancelled the project in October 2024, stating it had to make "difficult decisions about road schemes which were unfunded or unaffordable". Mrs Wensby-Scott said: "When I heard the news, I just thought 'oh my God all that for nothing'. "Everything we went through, the heartache, the angst, I just couldn't believe it. "You drive past now and it's falling apart, it just looks awful. It's such a shame, it was such a beautiful house." At the other end of the proposed route, Felicity and James Hester were living in East Cottage near the village of Rock. It was a "perfect place" for them because it had a paddock and stabling for their horses, but they soon realised the bulldozers were heading their way. "It was just horrible," Mrs Hester said. "We went through four or five years of utter hell trying to find somewhere we could actually move to, it was just a nightmare. "The way the property market was at the time in Northumberland, we couldn't find anything which matched what we had so we had to move to Cumbria. "Now we're a couple of hours away from all the friends we had." Next to East Cottage is Charlton Mires, a large 200-year-old farmhouse and steadings that had been the home of the Beal family since 1904, but would also need to be flattened for road building. Martin Beal described its loss as "very painful". "I felt like I'd let my family down somehow because I couldn't save our home," he said. "There are just so many memories in there. "They were also taking part of our land, so I couldn't plan ahead. I had sleepless nights, it was very hard." A freedom of information request by the BBC revealed that more than £68m had already been spent on the A1 scheme by the time it was cancelled, and that figure continues to rise by just under £30,000 a month. That is partly because National Highways is obliged to pay insurance and council tax on the unneeded properties, including an empty house premium. Land agent Louis Fell, who represented the Hester and Beal families, described the situation as "a mess" He said: "I know National Highways didn't make the decision to cancel the road, but they need to have a strategy for the properties, perhaps consider refurbishing them and renting them to young families. "For them just to sit here rotting is such a waste of money and it's not a good look for an area popular with tourists." National Highways previously said it was "sympathetic" to Mr Beal's situation after delays to payments for his property. In a statement, it said: "We carefully review expenditure on all our projects to ensure that lessons are learned and processes are improved for any future road improvement schemes. "Discussions surrounding the future of the homes purchased as part of this scheme remain ongoing and will be communicated in due course. "The properties are being managed by our estates team until a strategy is agreed. "During this time, the properties will be secured by our maintenance contractor and inspected on an appropriate basis." Under what are known as the Crichel Down rules, in situations like this the properties should be offered back to the owners, but all three families say they do not wish to go back to homes which have been empty for several years. Martin Beal said his former home was "full of damp and falling apart". He now has permission to build a new farmhouse nearby but when it is built, because it is a direct replacement for Charlton Mires, planning arrangements mean the original farmhouse has to be demolished at a cost to the taxpayer of an estimated £100,000. "It has been there for 200 years, it's a beautiful house. It is just ridiculous it has to be demolished for nothing," Mr Beal lamented. "I'm just so angry about everything my parents and I have been through, and all those millions of pounds wasted for what?" Hear more on BBC Sounds: The home taken for a road that wasn't built Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram. A1 dualling cancelled over £500m cost Consent granted on long-delayed A1 dualling Tens of millions spent on unapproved A1 expansion Decision on dualling A1 delayed again A1 Morpeth to Ellingham National Highways Department for Transport
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Britain's biggest North Sea operator slashes hundreds of jobs after tax raid
One of the UK's largest oil and gas producers has been forced to cut 250 jobs in Aberdeen, blaming the Government's windfall taxes for making the Britain's energy industry unprofitable. Harbour Energy, which operates in the North Sea, said a review of its operations would lead to the loss of 250 onshore roles – equal to 25pc of its workforce. In a clear warning to Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Scott Barr, the company's managing director, also said that Harbour could pull out of two carbon capture projects that are crucial to the UK's net zero ambitions. The announcement will send shock waves through the UK offshore industry and Aberdeen. Harbour Energy provides roughly 15pc of the UK's oil and gas – making it vital to national energy security. Through its supply chain, the company is also one of north-east Scotland's key job generators. 'The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the Government's ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment,' Mr Barr said. 'Harbour remains among the largest producers in the UK North Sea and, while our dedicated and highly skilled people will continue to produce vital energy safely and responsibly, we must take these difficult steps in response to the challenges presented by the current external environment.' Successive governments have taken aim at the North Sea, with the last Conservative administration imposing a 75pc windfall tax in 2022, and Labour raising that to 78pc last year. The windfall tax meant Harbour swung from a near $1bn profit to an $8m (£6.3m) loss last year. The UK tax changes meant Harbour was paying an effective tax rate of 102pc. The industry was hit by a further blow last year when Mr Miliband banned further exploration for new oil and gas fields – even though the UK is spending billions of pounds a year importing fossil fuels. Harbour's moves also threaten plans to build a CO2 capture and storage industry. The company is a key partner in the Humber-based Viking project to transport and store 15m tonnes of CO2 a year in the North Sea's Southern Gas Basin. It is also involved in Scotland's Acorn project to store at least 5m tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. Mr Barr criticised the Government's slow progress and warned that Harbour could pull out of such schemes. 'We are also reviewing the resourcing required to support our Viking carbon capture and storage project, where progress beyond front-end engineering design and the recent securing of a Development Consent Order has been hindered by repeated delays to the Government's process,' he said. Harbour is one of the UK's largest producers of oil and gas with operations in multiple North Sea fields including Greater Britannia, J-Area, AELE, Catcher and Tolmount, plus stakes in several others operated by different companies. It produced oil and gas equivalent to 175,000 barrels of oil every day in 2023, but as the windfall taxes hit home, it slashed investment in new fields – resulting in production last year falling to 149,000 barrels. A government spokesman defended the windfall tax, saying: 'The Government has reformed the energy profits levy [windfall tax] to support investment and give industry certainty and stability. 'By making the UK a clean energy superpower, including launching a world-leading carbon capture and storage industry after years of delay, consenting record amounts of clean power, and ending many years of no new nuclear, we will get the UK off dependence on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators, and drive jobs and growth through our Plan for Change.' Andrew Bowie, shadow energy spokesman, criticised the Government's 'insensitive' response. 'People are today being made unemployed. This is a tin-eared response from a Government in hock to climate extremist ideology and ignorant of the problems in the real world. 'Harbour is a principal player in the North Sea, employing around 1,000 people in Scotland. 'So this announcement, on the back of another 350 redundancies in 2023, must be seen as a pivotal moment for the future of British oil and gas.' Robin Allan, chairman of Brindex, a trade body for independent offshore operators such as Harbour, said: 'Successive governments have used the UK oil and gas industry as a cash cow rather than a national asset.' Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said UK policies on fossil fuels were destroying a world-class British industry. 'The UK currently has a crippling 78pc tax on North Sea oil and gas, all while importing record levels of foreign energy – with higher emissions – tax free,' he said. 'The result is 10,000 North Sea jobs lost since the windfall tax was introduced in 2022. It is a national scandal which threatens job losses on a scale not seen in decades.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The National
07-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Major oil and gas firm to cut 250 jobs from Aberdeen workforce
Harbour Energy said it was taking the decision to cut around 25% of its workforce because of 'the Government's ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment'. The firm recently announced losses after tax of $93m last year, down from $45m profits the year before which it said reflected 'a 108% effective tax rate'. READ MORE: Nigel Farage 'isn't in office but is in power' warns John Swinney In a statement, managing director of Harbour Energy's UK business said: 'Harbour is launching a review of its UK operations, which we expect to result in a reduction of around 250 onshore roles in our Aberdeen-based business unit. 'The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the Government's ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment. 'We are also reviewing the resourcing required to support our Viking carbon capture and storage project, where progress beyond front-end engineering design and the recent securing of a Development Consent Order has been hindered by repeated delays to the Government's Track 2 process.' Harbour Energy announced in 2023 it was cutting around 350 onshore jobs out of its 1200 workforce in Aberdeen because of the windfall tax. The firm has been one of the most vocal critics of the tax, officially known as the Energy Profits Levy (EPL), since its introduction in 2022. The levy was introduced by the then-chancellor Rishi Sunak following the start of the war in Ukraine with oil and gas firms at the time making record profits. In July, the UK Government announced the EPL would increase to 38% and would come to an end in 2030. Russell Borthwick, chief executive at Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: 'This is a devastating blow for the 250 plus families directly affected – and I fear it is just the tip of the iceberg, unless the government changes course.'
