How the UK could benefit from Moroccan innovation

This week the British Government announced that it would not support a plan by the X-Links Morocco-UK Power Project to bring renewable energy to the country from southern Morocco through underwater cables that would come ashore in the Southwest of England. Those behind the project said that they were ‘bitterly disappointed’ as well they might be because the announcement effectively kills off a plan that could have seen up to 8% of the UK’s electricity needs met. It would have provided power for up to seven million homes. But should they be the only ones to be bitterly disappointed?

Britain has the highest electricity costs in Europe. Successive governments have had plenty of opportunities to intervene in a privatized market many believe is rigged and regularly must deal with the aftermath of local industrial crises as key sectors struggle to meet the costs of electricity and face closure. The British steel and ceramic industries have been particularly impacted in recent years. And then there is Britain’s capacity to generate electricity. With coal fired power stations all closed, there is a big push for renewables to meet the demand, including nuclear power. But British companies won’t be building the main new nuclear power station in the eastern region of England, a French company, EDF will. And the question as always, is: will these massive construction projects come in on time? In recent weeks, UK Government Ministers have announced yet further delays on the opening of an already massively truncated High Speed Rail Network HS2 (at least two main lines to the North of England have now been cancelled). Now they say it won’t open until after 2033 and even then, can’t give a date. This project has cost billions more than was ever budgeted for and has been beset with problems. The temptation may now be to abandon it altogether. British Government Ministers do not like to be reminded that China seems capable of building high speed railways in next to no time and on budget. But just wait until they hear about the 323 high speed rail-link between Casablanca and Tangier, the first of its kind in Africa. Few of the problems that have beset high speed rail in Britain have been visited on Morocco which is now in the middle of further and massive expansion. The latest part of the build out is the new line to Marrakech scheduled to open by 2030. 

The reason cited by the British Government for pulling the rug on the X-Links project, is that it wishes to see renewable energy needs met from the UK. This may be a laudable aim, but as we have seen, a mixture of incompetence, failure to tackle the exigencies of the market and top-heavy management doesn’t seem to be able to deliver on a range of big projects. Another reason has been offered by campaigners against the project, essentially that it would have taken six years to build the infrastructure on the Devon coast and there would have been major disruption.

The truth is that there is not a great deal of confidence in the ability of Government in Britain to deliver on its promises. If it is not in the ‘national interest’ to import renewable power from Morocco, where and when is the 8% of the market that it would have provided for, going to be met?

In the meantime, if British Ministers want what’s left of the High-Speed Rail Network to be built at any point soon, perhaps they might ask Morocco how it is done? 

*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