The Morocco-UK energy link-up is a ‘no- brainer’ for both countries

Recent reports in the UK media of plans by a British businessman, Sir Dave Lewis, (who used to run one of Britain’s largest super-market chains), surrounding his hopes to build the World’s longest subsea cable in order to harness wind and solar energy from Morocco and transporting it to southern England, are gaining traction. Once upon a time, the idea of building such a long subsea cable might have been dismissed as a fanciful – although much the same was likely said about the first successful trans-Atlantic telegraph cable in 1866 that ran from the British Isles to North America. However, a planned development of wind and solar farms covering an area the size of Greater London and situated in southwest Morocco could – Sir Dave Lewis believes – power more than 9 million homes by 2030, while also helping Britain to meet its green energy targets. Lewis is now the Executive Chairman of the company ‘XLinks’, which is behind the initiative. He recently said; ‘When people first get to know what we’re doing they say we’re crazy. Then we explain, and they go along this curve until they get to the point where they’re asking ‘Hey, why don’t we do this? Why don’t we already do this?’

This is a good question. Because critics have cited a possible over-dependence of Britain on the country with all of that sun and wind, Morocco, while forgetting that alongside most other Western countries it has been dependent on the Gulf for its oil and probably would have become more dependent on Russia for its gas supplies had the Ukraine war not begun and mysterious forces not blown up two of the main NordStream pipelines from Russia into Europe. Britain ceased being self-sufficient in energy when it closed its coal mines and as oil and gas reserves in the North Sea became depleted. And while its new government may have high ambitions of meeting its new ambition to cut carbon emissions by 81% compared with 1990 levels by 2035, all of this comes at some immediate cost, not least to refinery workers at Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, which is set to close, but also to steel workers and others still dependent on fossil fuels. Currently, the new British Government is having to wrestle with the claim that British workers are having to pay for the green economy by losing their jobs. So, having the ambition of Sir Dave Lewis and the vision of his company should surely be seen as entirely positive. The new link will power the new industries of tomorrow, especially in the Southwest of England where the cable from Morocco is destined to feed. It will also benefit Morocco and the environment generally. It carries another advantage; power produced this way is cheaper than that produced by the nuclear industry which has its own issues with radioactive waste, and neither is XLinks looking for a government subsidy. All that seems to be an impediment to this ambitious new project from forging ahead is the customary caution of officialdom in Britain. But given the British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer’s broadside this week against civil servants when he accused them of being ‘comfortable with failure’, perhaps some of them may want to prove him wrong? Either way, the great Morocco/UK energy link-up seems like a ‘no- brainer’ for both countries.

*Mark Seddon is a former Speechwriter to UN Secretary-General Ban ki moon & former Adviser to the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly