How do we get green energy from here to there and at what cost?
Morocco is the ideal place for both wind power and solar power. It is sunny and windy. But how do we get energy from Morocco to where it’s needed? At what cost?
The Wall Street Journal says it’s a New Era of Clean Energy Using Transcontinental Power Lines.
A grandiose project to build a nearly 2,500-mile subsea power line would connect vast wind and solar farms in Morocco to the U.K., providing a reliable supply of electricity to meet a projected boom in demand.
The plan’s architect, Simon Morrish, said it is the U.K.’s best option for clean electricity.
“It was like, well, why is no one doing this?” said Morrish, a former management consultant who also runs a landscaping-services company.
If you seriously ask that question it’s because you can’t think. Nonetheless let’s continue.
Morrish has secured early-stage investment and hired a seasoned team, but his vision faces long odds. He needs to coax subsidies from the U.K. government, raise tens of billions of dollars and secure crucial permits from countries that control the seabed. The plan involves building Scotland’s tallest building—a giant cable factory—and a special ship to lay the lines.
The project nevertheless shows how the electricity map is changing.
The map is changing only because no one is forced to pay for this boondoggle, yet. Any project that needs subsidies to survive is not really viable.
It will take nearly 10,000 miles of cable for four offshore transmission lines—far more than existing suppliers could serve up. So Morrish started a cable-supply company to build a factory, with a tower taller than the Washington Monument, in which colossal cables will be lowered as they are coated in insulation.
The factory’s construction near the Scottish village of Fairlie has been delayed several times. Locals are doubtful it will happen.
Transmission projects can take well over a decade to materialize. In the U.S., the Biden administration is pushing to ease permitting for lines that strengthen the country’s grid, boosting hopes for more projects.
Quebec to NYC and Arizona to California
A 339-mile high-voltage transmission line that is under construction will bring hydropower to New York City from Quebec. A 550-mile line will bring wind power to California and Arizona from New Mexico.
Overseas, Meridiam is the lead investor in the first connection between the U.K. and Germany, and intends to invest in a planned 750-mile power line connecting Greece to Israel, via Cyprus. The project will lower lengths of cable weighing as much as the Eiffel Tower to depths of around 2 miles in the Mediterranean.
“What we are trying is bigger than what has been done before, both in terms of the size of the project and in terms of the amount of electricity we are trying to transmit,” said Pascal Radue, who leads the generation and transmission unit at Nexans, a cable supplier working on the Greece-to-Cyprus first leg of that project.
Here’s Another Beauty
Returning to Morocco …
Morrish has persuaded investors including TotalEnergies, Abu Dhabi’s state-controlled utility company and General Electric’s power-and-wind spinoff to buy into his plan. Xlinks closed a £100 million funding round in April, equivalent to $126 million.
But construction costs alone will be between £22 billion and £24 billion, Xlinks says. The company is talking to the U.K. government about a subsidy that Morrish hopes would spur investments, but those discussions have dragged.
The dream of sending North Africa’s wind and sunshine to Europe isn’t new. An earlier effort, which would have moved power over land, fell through over a decade ago amid infighting between its backers and political turmoil in the region.
“I have absolute confidence it will get done,” Morrish said. “It’s just taking a bit longer than I’d hoped.”
Assume Wild Success
Assume this Morocco project will be a success beyond your wildest dreams.
By that I mean no cost overruns, no regulatory hurdles, and no delays.
The cost will be a mere £22 billion and delivered on time. In US dollars, that’s the equivalent of $27.84 billion.
The UK has ~28.4 million households. That amounts to a charge of about a $980 per household.
But that is just the cost of the lines. It does not reflect the cost of the solar panels or wind turbines, line maintenance, battery storage, or any other details needed to make the scheme work.
And how much clean energy does this provide to the UK?
Drum roll …. about eight percent of UK needs.
This is from one of the best spots on the planet to produce green energy. It would produce perhaps 0.5 percent of US needs and require a big transmission grid upgrade to do so.
Morocco is rated economically and politically stable. But will that always be the case?
Who wouldn’t want to bet the country on Morocco?
“Why is no one doing this?” asked Morrish.
What a hoot!
Net Zero Is a Very Unlikely Outcome
It’s not that wind an solar have no use ever. In the right places they do.
Rather, the idea we are going to power all or even most of our energy needs by 2050 using wind and solar is ridiculous.
Also note that misguided attempts to do so on an impossible to meet schedule are highly inflationary.
Along those lines, please consider Sorry Green Energy Fans, Net Zero Is a Very Unlikely Outcome
Let’s discuss the Kyoto Protocol climate objectives and dozens of reasons why a net zero by the 2050 target has virtually no chance.
The link above is very detailed and it does not come from what people label “climate deniers”.
Please check it out.