The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project | Public Notice

Notice is hereby given that Xlinks 1 Ltd of Kingfisher House, Woodbrook Crescent, Billericay, Essex, United Kingdom, CM12 0EQ (“the Applicant”) intends to make an application to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (the “Secretary of State”) under Section 37 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) (the “Act”) for a Development Consent Order (“DCO”) (the “Application”). The Applicant intends to make the Application by the end of 2024. The Application is to authorise the construction and operation (which includes maintenance) of those elements of the Morocco-UK Power Project (the “Project”) which are located in the UK (the “Proposed Development”).

The Proposed Development could deliver 3.6 Gigawatts (“GW”) of low carbon electricity to the UK’s electricity grid and could improve the security and diversity of the UK’s electricity supply. The Secretary of State recognised last year that elements of the Proposed Development are nationally significant and therefore directed under Section 35 of the Act that the Proposed Development should be treated as development for which development consent is required.

All onshore elements of the Proposed Development are located within the administrative area of Torridge District Council in the County of Devon. The offshore elements of the Proposed Development extend from Cornborough Range, also in Torridge, to the seaward limit of the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (“EEZ”).

The Proposed Development is split into three distinctive elements, as follows:

Onshore elements

• Two independent 1.8GW converter stations plus external equipment, landscaping and other ancillary buildings (the “Converter Site”) to convert electricity from Direct Current (“DC”) into Alternating Current (“AC”) before transmission to the National Grid, located west of the existing National Grid Alverdiscott 400 kilovolt (“kV”) substation.
• 12 High Voltage Alternating Current (“HVAC”) cables connecting the Converter Site into the National Grid Alverdiscott 400kV substation, each approximately 1.2 kilometres (“km”) in length.
• A new 400kV substation to replace the existing National Grid Alverdiscott 400kV substation, to the immediate east of the existing substation.
• 4 High Voltage Direct Current (“HVDC”) cables to link the onshore converter stations to a landfall site at Cornborough Range, buried in bundled pairs with 6 fibreoptic cables in a corridor approximately 14.5km long and approximately 65 metres (“m”) wide.

Landfall site

• A landfall point at Cornborough Range on the Devon coast, about 2.5km south of Westward Ho! and 4km west of Bideford, hosting two Transition Joint Bays to transition from offshore HVDC cables to onshore HVDC cables.

Offshore elements

• HVDC cables which would bring electricity from its generation to the landfall point, which are located within the UK EEZ in a corridor approximately 370km in length and between 500m and 1.5km wide. These would be in bundled pairs with 6 fibreoptic cables.

The Proposed Development will include other required works, such as temporary access roads, highway works, temporary works compounds, work sites, ancillary works, temporary and permanent utility connections, permanent utility diversions, biodiversity net gain offsetting, and any other works identified as necessary to enable the Proposed Development.

The Application will seek authorisation for the compulsory acquisition of land and interests in and rights over land, the overriding of easements and other rights, the temporary use of land, the application and/or disapplication of legislation relating to the Proposed Development, and such ancillary, incidental and consequential provisions, licences, property rights, permits and consents as are necessary and/or convenient.

The Proposed Development is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development, as defined by The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. An Environmental Statement will therefore be submitted as part of the proposed Application, which will contain information about the environmental effects of the Proposed Development.

Information currently available about the likely significant environmental impacts of the Proposed Development will be set out in a Preliminary Environmental Information Report (“PEIR”) that will form part of the consultation documents.

Consultation on the proposals will take place from Thursday 16 May 2024 until 11:59pm on Thursday 27 June 2024. The Applicant is making available a number of ways to find out more about the Proposed Development including:

• Holding public exhibitions at the locations and times below
• Reading the consultation materials detailed in this notice
• Visiting the consultation website, www.xlinks.co/devon
• Contacting the Applicant directly with questions using the details in this notice