In Morocco’s south-west, a vast network of solar and wind farms, sprawling across an area as large as Greater London, could soon provide clean electricity to over 9 million homes in Britain. At the helm of this groundbreaking vision is Sir Dave Lewis, the former CEO of Tesco, who plans to deliver renewable energy through the world’s longest undersea power cable.
The 4,000km cable, buried beneath the seabed, aims to transport up to 8% of the UK’s electricity demand from Morocco’s Tantan province to Devon in less than a second. Leveraging Morocco’s abundant sunshine and steady wind patterns, the project promises a dependable source of green energy for about 19 hours every day, all year round.
Now executive chairman of Xlinks, the company driving the initiative, Lewis acknowledges the boldness of the endeavour. “At first, people think it’s madness. But as they understand the concept, they quickly ask, ‘Why haven’t we done this already?’”
After steering Tesco through a major turnaround, Lewis left the retail giant in 2020 and embraced the opportunity to address the climate crisis. Betting his reputation on this ambitious project, he’s determined to reshape the future of renewable energy in Britain.
