Interconnectors will play a more prominent role in the European electricity sector in the 1930s. writes Matthew Lynas. Plans are in the works to strengthen ties between European countries and there are ambitious hopes for intercontinental connections.
North Africa offers plenty of sunshine. Mediterranean African countries, in the “sun belt”, boast a generational profile that is less intermittent than that of Europe. Investors see potential. Rystad Energy analysis found that proposed interconnectors between North Africa and Europe could transfer energy from 24 GW of generation capacity. It seems unlikely that any of this will happen.
Interconnectors connecting Africa and Europe are not a new idea. There are currently two high-voltage cables connecting Morocco to Spain, each with a transmission capacity of 700 MW. A third cable connecting the two countries is under development and much longer links are planned to attract financial support.
Nivedh Das Thaikoottathil, senior renewables and energy analyst at Rystad Energy, highlighted three major projects: Xlinks, which connects the United Kingdom and Morocco; the GREGY initiative between Greece and Egypt; and Elmed joined Tunisia and Italy.
“The reason I say these interconnectors stand out from the rest is in terms of project developments and financing,” Thaikootathil said. pv magazine. “When we look at of the cable,” he said.
Property developers may have made progress on the financial front, but it will take more than just money to connect North Africa to Europe. Thaikoottathil warned that the global supply of high-voltage and extra-high-voltage submarine cables currently amounts to about 9,000 km per year. That won’t be enough. Based on the announced production capacity under development, which could reach 16,000 km per year by 2030, demand from Rystad Energy projects could reach as much as 75,000 km by then.
It is a major challenge, but if overcome there is significant potential for interconnectors to add more diversity to European networks in the 2030s, reducing dependence on gas imports.
“If you include Xlinks, GREGY and Elmed-Tunita, the total is 7.2 GW [of capacity]” said Thaikoottathil. “This would essentially translate into exports of more than 50 TWh to Europe (annually). Assuming these interconnectors are operating at maximum capacity. In terms of diversification, this is a starting point, because most of these countries – i.e. Britain, Greece and Italy – receiving this power have gas that makes up at least a third of their energy mix.”
In 2024, Morocco was the only African country with interconnectors running to Europe. Two links to Spain are in operation, a third is underway, and an ambitious project with credible investors has proposed a record-breaking link to Northern Europe.
If it comes to fruition, Xlinks would be the largest interconnector in the world. The plan is to build 4,000 km of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable from Morocco to Britain, tapping into the former country’s abundant potential of renewable energy sources. Progress has been made. Xlinks has signed an agreement with the British electricity grid operator for two 1.8 GW interconnectors. In Morocco, Xlinks plans 7 GW of solar power and 4.5 GW of wind capacity in addition to a 22.5 GWh battery, according to Rystad Energy.
The project has attracted investors. In 2023, French utility Total Energies invested GBP 20 million ($26 million) and Octopus Energy and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company are on board.
Dave Lewis, former boss of British supermarket giant Tesco, is chairman of the project. Other key figures include vice chairman Paddy Padmanathan, former president and CEO of Arab developer ACWA Power, and CEO Simon Morrish.
Energization is still a long way off, but Xlinks has taken steps toward planning approval. The project requires a UK Government Development Consent (DCO) for approximately 370km of HVDC cables to be laid in UK waters, as well as the final 14km of onshore cabling connecting Moroccan renewables to the Alverdiscott, 400kV substation. in Devon, England. Xlinks was expected to submit its DCO application in November 2024 pv magazine went to press. If the British government accepts the application, a long investigation period will follow.
If a building permit is obtained, other obstacles remain. Obtaining sufficient cable can present challenges. To counter this, the project developer has set up a separate company, XLCC, which is tasked with setting up an HVDC production plant for submarine cables. XLCC was granted planning permission in 2022 by North Ayrshire Council, Scotland, to build a cable factory in a former coal and iron port a stone’s throw from the Hunterston B nuclear power station, which ceased generating electricity in 2022.
The XLCC cable factory has also received state aid. On 26 September 2024, the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) announced a financing package consisting of an investment of GBP 20 million, with an option to invest a further GBP 67 million if XLCC were to achieve specific development and financing milestones.
In a statement, John Flint, CEO of the UKIB, noted that according to industry forecasts, demand for submarine cables will soon exceed supply chain capacity.
“Our support for XLCC is designed to provide confidence to the market, displacing private investment in this sector to increase production capacity in a sector that will have a significant impact on the UK’s transition to net zero emissions,” Flint said.
A long-planned link between North Africa and Italy continues to spark debate, with industry stakeholders on both sides of the Mediterranean keen to see the Elmed interconnector project succeed. Big statements have been accompanied by a lot of money and those involved hope to see it put into use as early as 2028.
The Elmed project has been in the making for years and has received significant state support during that time. writes Blathnaid O’Dea. This concerns the construction of a 220 km long submarine HVDC cable with a capacity of 600 MW between Tunisia and Sicily, connecting the Tunisian peninsula of Cape Bon with the southern coast of Italy’s largest island.
Project developers aim to complete the interconnector by 2028, although it is unclear how Tunisia’s 2024 elections, which have caused political and economic disruption, will affect the timeline. The European Investment Bank (EIB), a major financier of the project, doubled the 2028 deadline in a statement to pv magazine. The bank also stated that the project is still in the tender phase and that the tender will take place through a negotiated procedure under Italian law . Information such as the date the bid was submitted is confidential in these types of procedures.
Despite the challenges, the Tunisian government and transmission system operator (TSO) STEG appear determined to get Elmed up and running.
Italian TSO Terna is also motivated and has promised to provide Tunisians with training support on the new technologies that Elmed will bring to the region.
There is a lot involved in this interconnection project. In 2017, Elmed was included on the European Union’s list of Projects of Common Interest and received a €307 million ($334 million) funding increase in 2022 through the Connecting Europe Fund (CEF). This makes Tunisia one of the first non-EU member states to receive CEF money. In total, almost €1 billion has been pumped into the development of Elmed.
For the European Union, the interconnector adds to the diversity of a network that policymakers would like to see become less dependent on gas imports. In Tunisia, the project is part of a broader energy cooperation with the European Union, focusing on renewable generation and green hydrogen.
In June 2024, Belhassen Chiboub, Director General of Electricity and the Energy Transition at the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, described the Elmed project as “strategic” for international relations. The European Union and Tunisia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to “strengthen cooperation in the field of renewable energy.”
Egypt and Greece may be separated by the sea, but the islands in between offer attractive interconnection opportunities. Several projects have been proposed to connect the two countries, but in 2024 the prospects for progress are mixed.
First announced in 2017, the EuroAfrica Interconnector is a planned 2 GW, 1,400 km stretch of submarine cables running from Egypt to Cyprus and then from Cyprus to Crete. writes Mark Hutchins. In 2021, a cable connecting Crete to the Greek mainland was completed, and will also be expanded to manage the additional capacity of the EuroAfrica and Great Sea interconnectors between Crete and Cyprus.
The first phase of the interconnector, half of the planned total capacity, was originally scheduled to be completed in 2023, but the company behind the project has pushed back the date to 2029. The first phase is reported to have an investment cost of €2.5 billion and the associated costs. current financial situation is not clear.
Reports from 2023 suggest that the project is undergoing new feasibility studies following a financial crisis and currency devaluation in Egypt. Multiple requests to the company behind EuroAfrica Interconnector for an update on the project have gone unanswered.
Cyprus is currently the only EU Member State without interconnection with other EU electricity networks and is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels for electricity. For the European Union, the integration of Cyprus and reducing both emissions and energy bills on the island are among the main objectives of the project.
For Egypt, the EuroAfrica interconnector is part of a strategy to position the country as a regional energy hub and take advantage of its abundant sunshine by supplying energy to Europe through large PV projects built in its vast deserts. Neighboring country Saudi Arabia also wants to participate. The Middle Eastern country already has a 3GW cable connecting it to Egypt’s electricity grid and feasibility studies are underway for a direct cable connecting the Greek and Saudi Arabian electricity grids.
In the meantime, the GREGY project continues to develop. A 3 GW, 950 km interconnection is proposed between Greece and Egypt on a route running along the west coast of Crete. In autumn 2023, the project was included on the European Union’s draft list of “projects of mutual interest” and a consultation was launched in early 2024 to inform final studies.
Project developer Copelouzos Group has claimed that the interconnector will be powered by renewable plants that it will build and operate in Egypt, with a generation capacity totaling 9.5 GW.
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