Renewable Baseload Power from a single desert location. Enough for 7 million homes!

[@SunsetNova]

Great to see Morocco and Great Britain collaborating like this 🇲🇦❤🇬🇧

[@TheHorseshoePartyUK]

It really is! We are all Human, none of us are perfect to literally everyone else. Data indicates Most People Are Good. Only a tiny number of us around 1 in 100 to 1 in 20 are the worst. The absolute worst dictators arguably less than 1% throughout all human history! We have more in common that unites us than divides us. We all love a good meal, snack, and a good laugh!

[@dianapennepacker6854]

This is a silly idea from a security standpoint. Seriously, when is Europe going to learn that not everything stays pretty? Morroco is fighting Islamic terrorists in the Sahara. Imagine getting a large portion of someone who can simply cut your grid off. Hold it hostage for diplomacy. Just saying. The world isn't as stable as peoples pipe dreams.

[@robertotomas]

For once I have something to say! I just spent half a month in Casablanca, where I saw in the social media of that environment just how proud they are of their world class solar installations. It’s amazing and very much fulfilling to see globalization excelling like this :)

[@yassinebenryan2814]

We are happy to work with the uk on this one. Love from morocco

[@Debkah]

Skot al3abd , sidek li ghadi khdem witkheles ach dekhel 7martek nta.

[@yassinebenryan2814]

@@Debkah ??

[@KGopidas]

Wish the project an early success on schedule, within budget snd infinite trouble free operation life?

[@markgilder9990]

Your'er such a good presenter. I"m surprised some TV channel hasn't snapped you up for their shows. As ever, a revelation finding this channel with such great content. I'm gradually working my way through the vids which are just the right length with enough information and content to make you start to do your own research. You must spend hours reading and researching and recording and editing. Xlink, who would have guessed this was even possible.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Mark. I really appreciate your words of encouragement :-)

[@MadMadOne]

Haha, tv channels usually get news from the board/CEO. They don't want him.

[@donnamarie3617]

Mark, they could not afford him!

[@dac545j]

@@MadMadOne Your name says it all.

[@Tim_van_de_Leur]

tv is dead, just stay here

[@marcm.]

I have for nearly 20 years, been advocating for something like this, for the USA. Especially, from southwest to northeast. The 3 hour difference would work very well in this case, and if done right, as the swing in use crosses across the country, the system could maintain a near 100% production, to supply the different regions, at their highest use.... It is sad that the USA is no longer the leader in think big

[@JustHaveaThink]

One day Marc. One day :-)

[@trueriver1950]

Yeah. In retrospect it is daft that the two main North American grids are ligned North-South rather than East-West. Even before solar power became a thing, having East-West grids would have distributed the demand better. However, when you realise that the geography drove that design (including how to get power across the Rockies) it did make sense at the time.

[@mohannair5671]

Wish you all the very best for an early success.

[@fancyIOP]

But it's great for those countries who have never lead in history, we are seeing them as modern rising stars.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

Has Europe or UK not learned after Russia that relying on others for your energy needs is not a great idea? This is rubbish. The world is not stable. This will force the UK to need to back a Monarchy that isn't completely stable. They are fighting Muslim terrorists in the Western Sarhara. They just had a rebellion during the Arab Spring. They have a portion of their population that does not like the West. North Africa as a whole has extremism spreading or dictators. One of the greatest things about renewabls is that it is a way for the West to disconnect from all the chaos of geopolitics. Without having to get intertwined with unsavory actors, or keep people in power. Having a third of your power being vulnerable in multiple ways due to having a pipe dream that all is okay is just foolish. Even if renewables is more expensive in your area it is worth every penny to have it in your backyard. Oh PS. I am from the future. The project has already gone up to 25% more. I'm sure this won't be the last price hike before completion.

[@edreusser4741]

I love this channel.

[@donnamarie3617]

I worked on the HVDC cable between the South and the North Island in New Zealand. Our biggest issue long term was leakage, and our cables stayed on the continental shelf, not deep sea. I hope the brand new manufacturing plant gets it right the first time!

[@rkan2]

Plenty of undersea cables that work without issue in Europe... If you'd just go across the mediterranean it would be no problem... This cable on the other hand is quite ambitious indeed. Totally different to just fiber optic.

[@xxwookey]

You mean leakage of seawater into the cable? Or leakage of current out of the cable? So was it just performing worse than anticipated or did it start to degrade (due to corrosion perhaps?). It is a big cable to make if you've not made any before!

[@donnamarie3617]

@@xxwookey Current leakage.

[@trueriver1950]

If you look back at the map, the route of the cable keeps it on the continental shelf all the way from Morroco to the UK. A more direct route, crossing deep water, would be a shorter cable but no doubt the comapny was thinking of exactly your point when they decided to go for the longer cable run.

[@Withnail1969]

It's just another pie in the sky project that will never be built. It has vaporware written all over it.

[@leroybecker8843]

Iceland is half the distance and their geothermal energy is available 24/7 and may be unlimited. Really fond of your excellent channel.

[@gasdive]

Away from the Internet for a week, only to come back to see the subject I've been banging on about for 2 decades being the subject of my favourite show. It's always sunny somewhere! Great show. We need something similar in Australia, as half the world population lives (or at least has grid connections) within 6000 km of our north western coast. Except it needs to be 2 orders of magnitude larger.

[@anders21karlsson]

Great video as well! Best Channel!

[@paulwilhelmsen6586]

I woke up early on my day off, and literally couldn’t fall back asleep cause I was thinking “doesn’t Just Have A Think come out on sundays…?” So much for sleeping in :)

[@joe7272]

The day of the holy video!

[@Utubedarr]

Paul, You really need a life, bro...

[@paulwilhelmsen6586]

@@Utubedarr you’re not wrong.

[@dereknewbury163]

Thank you for providing a little optimism

[@tbix1963]

Great sounding project and should be a welcome addition to the supply mix but in now way is it A long term solution. As a retired senior power system operator I can assure you that even new cables can have unexpected outages. Hopefully they are looking into local grid sized storage to compliment this and more than just a few cables in parallel.

[@slash196]

More HVDC line factories is a win no matter how you slice it. Once X-links is done, there will be other projects that badly need the capacity they can produce. This isn't just about one project, it's about building out the industries, capital and expertise to be able to do MANY such projects.

[@KCFreitag]

I look forward to these installments. Thank you.

[@richardabrahams585]

Bravo for the Truth regarding our needs to clean our selves up.. For our children’s future!! Excellent.

[@trentclark77]

These types of projects are amazing. Hopefully they'll expand to the point there's so much abundance of electricity that electrolysis/green hydrogen becomes cheap. I'm starting to become a little optimistic in seeing a world where even heavy industries and transport become green. Exciting times for certain.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

Yes, as long as Chevron and Shell and Exxon don't derail Green hydrogen with their "Blue" hydrogen scam. ("Black & Blue" hydrogen is more like it.) They're willing to assassinate indigenous environmental justice leaders and Senators- there's nothing they won't do to keep their profits.

[@fabp.2114]

I hope so much. The whole world is out of joint and so many subsystems are transforming in mostly unpredictable ways, I see more and more often only the choice between paradise and apocalypse. But that is surely a simplification. Anyway, the vision of a green technology revolution and a sustainable society is indeed taking more and more shape. It's a bit as if you have to put the startled world population in the play corner in kindergarten, show them all the great things around them and what they could possibly do with them by gently patting them on the head: "Look, it's all good". Cautious optimism is in order.

[@chasindigo]

Green hydrogen is a scam, just use the electric that is generated.

[@MarkkuS]

@Horseshoe Party You have a problem, please consult a therapist.

[@fabp.2114]

@Horseshoe Party wtf

[@TheStandardJoe]

Very good. Thanks for the concise video. Pushing the boundaries of battery storage and subsea cabling. Citing stuff.

[@frankbrindle8598]

Another great video. Projects like this one need to be chased aggressively by all nations, to ensure that we can survive our occupation of this planet. Keep it up please. You are doing great work for a most noble cause - The future successful existence of humans on planet Earth, through education.

[@bernventer5949]

Like the Nuclear project, this one is so idilic at the start and then runs into £billions of over budget unforeseen reasons but then it is too late. If it were to work, it would be better to try a country in another time zone so that they had sunshine at the UK peak requirement which is in the evening.

[@СашаЧерный-э2т]

@@bernventer5949 The cost of cables and losses on transmission would be even larger.

[@linmal2242]

ESPECIALLY female education !

[@businessproyects2615]

Atlantropa rises.

[@ricoma6037]

Thank you for your work from the US! Much appreciated!!!

[@glike2]

Great to see massive HVDC cable production capacity build up, they will have plenty of demand for decades!

[@jfraserm]

Buckminster Fuller proposed this many years ago. Called G.E.N.I. Amazing to see the idea forming.

[@coced]

Thats the kind of well-rounded project that i like to see, it doesnt look like an other job program

[@financepp5908]

Thanks, Dave

[@davidbudd2624]

Your thoughtful unbiased content is worth it's weight in gold. Keep up the good work.

[@jamesgrover2005]

+1

[@vasiliigulevich9202]

Oh, its very biased. The bias is arguably justified though.

[@williammeek4078]

@@vasiliigulevich9202 This is a way under rated point. Bias is inherent conscious and desirable like the weather channel being biased against sports news to unconscious and undesirable like bias against hiring women because you don’t see them as strong as the men you interview. Bias isn’t necessarily bad as long as it is acknowledged and discussed.

[@banana1618]

excellent, clear, concise explanation of a briiliant idea.

[@GordonSime]

Cracking content, as usual.

[@williampierce2034]

Great idea. Lets get started.

[@w0ttheh3ll]

I've heard of several projects of comparable scale planned (Sun Cable is interesting, they want to supply 15% of Singapore's electricity from Darwin, Australia), but never thought about where the cable would come from. Once you think about it, of course there is a shortage.

[@thomasschild284]

Just a comment on terminology. Base load is a term from the coal fired power stations. It means the lowest level that the generator can go before it has to be switched off. This is around 50% of the maximum rated load. This is important to the coal generator because it can take several days to bring a generator back on line, unlike a hydro generator which can be stopped and started within a few minutes. The base load in this video seems to be the generating shortfall that typically occurs when the sun goes down. In the interests of technical accuracy it is best not to confuse the terms. A coal power station delivering base load can still result in a generation shortfall. cheers Thomas (in Australia where we regrettably still use lots of coal power)

[@patrickjr11]

I am a massive fan of this concept, and would like to see more inter connectors globally. The energy islands in the North Sea and the Baltic are also part of this approach. in energy terms spread is vital. Big thumbs up for this

[@martinhammett8121]

We have several inter connectors already operated by National grid uk-France, Holland, Belgium, Norway & soon to go live Denmark, fortunately Brexit hasn't effected this buisness

[@natkingcol909]

I live near hunterson and have never heard of this project!! This is huge news for our area!

[@douglaslaurents3735]

I like your program very much. For this one on the UK / Morrocco cable, however, there are two big concerns you didnt mention. First is you are putting yourself in the hands of the government of Morrocco.. second, un the map you showed, the cable would run through waters that are the exclusive economic zones of Portugal, Spain and France.

[@robbrookes4889]

Shouldn't we be looking at the world. The world gains 10 GW of renewables and has to recognise we are all interdependent on each other. . Brilliant imv. Cost is miniscule compared to trillions on arms. Lets do lots more renewables and much less killing.

[@catinthehat906]

My thought exactly, what is to stop an Islamic terror group shutting down the cable once we become dependent on that power. The whole "lets use the Sahara" argument ignores the fact this is one of the most politically unstable parts of the entire globe. Just look at the current spat between Morocco and Algeria over gas transfers between the two.

[@abdelchadli1637]

Well presented. Thanks

[@graemenash3121]

Great video as per usual, wish they’d do the same from Iceland for geothermal power. Need these cables round the world to balance power demand/supply.

[@stevemickler452]

Brilliant. I mean it. This us possibly even better for the UK and it would sure help a friendly stable country.

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@@stevemickler452 it should help to stabilize the world! Course would probably take a true Purging of the elite that think themselves above work!

[@Jontague]

That's been in the works for several years, called 'IceLink', at just over 1 GW

[@stevemickler452]

@@Jontague Thanks for the info. Very cool.

[@burtonschrader2]

You are a ray of hope and optimism. Thank you very much.

[@michealoflaherty1265]

I remember a German presenter, at an energy conference, stated that their models showed that, with interconnects, they could reach 70% renewables before needing storage.

[@janami-dharmam]

But it all depends on the network, most of the time the fault is with the network. In my country, in South Asia, it is always the fault of the network. Village people get power for 8-12 hours a day (most part) and that does not include the prime time.

[@bazoo513]

And yet, they don't even have sufficient capacity _within the country_ to transport wind power from the North to industrial South. The result is expensive electricity, rise of use of natural gas and even talks of reactivation of lignite mines.

[@TerraPosse]

@@bazoo513 That's what a federal system a la USA will result in. Otherwise the solution to the internal imbalance of distribution would have long been addressed and the offshore wind farms could feed in all the energy they can produce rather than being paid for to stand idle. 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@Alexander_Kale]

According to the German IFO, you'd need about 11 TWh of storage at current electricity consumption levels for the least expensive combination of installed capacity/storage. On top of that, according to the same guys, 70 percent renewables without storage would mean you lose about 30 percent of your produced electricity. See here, at about the 30 min mark. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZuln5unbdahmZY At the moment, they have about 30 percent renewables, and they are running head first into the wall of problems that creates. And that's just for a country the size of Germany.

[@weinisable]

@@Alexander_Kale Germany has 100% renewable capacity (100+GW installed capacity) , but due tto the usual crap efficiency of RE , they cannot exploit it. Also, most people would understand that interconnectors with other countries are effectively Storage.!

[@benlamprecht6414]

Thanks for excellent research and presentation

[@rayane7708]

Thanks for talking about North Africa . Morrocco has Noor PV too , 4 photovoltaic thermal power stations (560 MWc ).

[@jamesaspinwall]

Another great informative video.

[@jjmalm]

Geopolitical stability seems like the elephant in the room for any African based grid infrastructure

[@TheAtlantisReport]

Morocco is very stable ...more stable than most european countries I'd say

[@peterjol]

yes..sadly it's already the curse of having any desperate reliance on any resource from other countries and the driver behind many wars and violence.

[@CaroAbebe]

Russia and many countries’ dependence on its oil and gas is a huge problem; dependence always is, that’s got nothing to do with Africa.

[@patangaha]

Spanish desert is more than enough to serve whole of Europe. Why go all the way to Morocco?

[@ingridschmid1709]

@@peterjol Reliance on foreign ressources can be a driver for peace , isolation and autarky on top of being impractical do not ward off wars .

[@criticalobserver5720]

Well done!

[@herlescraft]

if only there was a continent between marocco and the UK with wich to share a power grid for better grid stability and baseload... oh wait.

[@nickboylen6873]

If only that continent didn’t wish to harm the UK and wasn’t threatening to cut off existing power supplies…

[@olivierb9716]

@@nickboylen6873 because marocco can't threatening uk ?? and, for you information, eu provides a lot of electricity for uk.

[@nickboylen6873]

@@olivierb9716, I was referring to the EU and, most specifically, France. I think Morocco would be a good partner. The EU does sell power to the UK, but Macron and Baune keep threatening the UK and Jersey with cuts, and so did Ireland against a background of other threats and blockades.

[@simon7790]

We already have many Interconnectors. We buy nuclear electricity from France, Hydro from Norway, wind from the Netherlands, and probably Denmark too in future. There's also interconnectors with Belgium and Ireland. So adding one for solar from Morocco and maybe geothermal from Iceland would mitigate supply risks further.

[@herlescraft]

@@nickboylen6873 if only the UK could be bothered to not break international law, have amicable relations with it's largest trading partner and not seek trade wars every time the opportunity present it's self.

[@RobSchofield]

Excellent overview, great explanations - great!

[@ingenhop4365]

This reminds me of the failed Desertec initiative from about 10-15 years ago. I hope they'll get it right this time!

[@firstname4459]

Good to hear there are other plans in the works

[@daveyhu]

Can't help but feel that this tilted a little toward being an ad for xlink... They haven't really started and therefore haven't faced any issues yet that typically crop up once production/implementation starts. Comparing them to nuclear plants that have run out of budget is not "fair" in this regard. 8% of UK energy sounds great obviously, not debating the potential.

[@paulbedichek2679]

Nuclear power has supplied UK with clean power for decades, foreign PV,not so much. A better solution is small modular reactors ,but they work very well with renewables.All over the world hydro project are producing very little power because of droughts brought on by warming.

[@Fastidious1970]

Brilliant, thought-provoking and informative as always. Thank you.

[@AGuiFr]

Wouldn't it be more efficient to have an integrated grid covering the UK, Europe and Morocco, building a much shorter cable from Morroco to Spain, and injecting this energy to the interconnected grid, rather than having this very long single cable?

[@gerixxx1]

Potential for future expansion. It could work as a benchmark for future projects like this

[@dantronics1682]

they are 3 different independent countries

[@davidshipp623]

I agree but all these projects are going to be subject to security/political issues (ironically just like fossil fuels) - look at France’s recent threat on the interconnector - and that’s a close ally. Although that lends some weight to your argument, the more interconnected possibly the more impact to everyone of disputes - reducing disputes - is that too sensible😂.

[@Makatea]

@@davidshipp623 That's purely a Brexit problem. Morocco already has an interconnect to the european powergrid via Spain, but it's AC and pretty low power. It's more about creating more high power DC interconnects to pump more power south to north and there's indeed a lot of potential for similar deals to be made by other south and central european countries.

[@TerraPosse]

That had been proposed 20 years ago in a project on a grander scale than XLinks vision called Desertec Consortium. It failed for various reasons some years later but not before building a pilot solar array in Morocco.

[@shadowmancer7040]

This. Its excellent. We just need 1000 more of them.

[@renaissancewomanfarm9175]

We don't think much of spending this kind of money on oil refinery or nuclear. Glad we are finally thinking of spending it on something renewable

[@Steellmor]

Renewable turbine wings,renewable 15,200km worth of 4 years world productions of cable,renewable PV-SP which needs to be renewed after 20-25 years and cost 3-4 years of power they possible could generate. Nuclear is a renewable energy,solar - is a nuclear energy from the Sun.

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@ Renaissance Woman Fa.... DONT hold your breath but this is a perfect time for petroleum terrorists to some how sabotage this deal!

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@@Steellmor see you all just don’t get it but we remember all your lies from the past! Energy too cheap to meter comes to mind!

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@@Steellmor and your numbers are all speculation at best at worst, which I wouldn’t doubt, are just smoke!

[@Steellmor]

@@carlpodrecca5177 Who's lies? Those numbers are coming directly from PV-SP manufacturers.Please educate yourself. Nuclear is future,wind power and solar at best will last 100 year as major energy source. If climate change continue at such rate - we will get hurricanes in unexpected places. How do solar and wind turbines do against hurricanes,when people lose whole houses?

[@SiSwitzer]

What a phenomenal idea! This is indeed very hopeful for our future. Whilst the situation we find ourselves in as a species is pretty dire, it’s projects like this and the speed at which technology moves that give me hope🙌

[@sangeet358]

This sounds really promising... can't wait to see it coming online. Let's see who goes live first, The Australia --> Singapore power supply or Morocco --> UK

[@runedahl1477]

One problem with this project is the length of the cables from Morocco to the UK. The loss of energy will be considerably due to resistance in the material (OHM’s law),unless someone comes up with a cheap superconductor . Also the loss when charging up that massive battery will be considerably. Beside if you want to supply all of Europe the solar panel plant will have to be the size of a country. Go for molten salt reactors. They will probably be rolled out in large numbers from 2030.

[@samirr7181]

Brilliant video! Sounds like a win win project for both sides.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

Whoohoo! There's something good on T.V. 📺. Great way to start a weekend morning.

[@trueriver1950]

of topic but re your name: hide quickly if by air. Unless its from a balloon you can't outrun an airstrike... Even so, I do like it :)

[@johndoyle4723]

Thanks, well presented and you offer a strong argument for the Morocco project.I have been to Morocco a few times in the Atlas mountains, plenty of wind there, and plenty of rain, but the proposed site looks better. I will follow with interest. The Sahara is huge, but harsh environment, maybe some big possibility for development there as well.

[@weinisable]

But unknown risk factors ! We cannot even hold the Dakar Rally there any more due to terrorist risk, so what chance a multi billion pound facility NOT being seen as a prime oportunity for some tribe of idiots. Remember the expression ..T.I.A. ?....This. Is Africa. ! Which means , it isnt like Europe....things get lost , projects get delayed, money is used as a “lubricant” to get things to happen, people go missing or get taken hostage. Not a sensible place to do big business !

[@craigthebrute3262]

@@weinisable The sahara by itself is big enough to house the entire worlds population several times over. Egypt built benban solar park in the sahara. Also toshka farms. Gadaffi built the great man made river. Projects can work if implemented correctly. Also, if you pump enough money into a community & they share the economic prosperity, there is less incentive to join a terrorist group. Also less incentive to emigrate to europe.

[@weinisable]

@@craigthebrute3262 not very smart project examples !... building a river to irrigate a desert nation is a little different to investing in fairy dust solar 3000 km away from where its intended to be used. And it didnt exactly do much for Gadaffi or Libya’s development. Has it slowed the exodus of Libyan refugees to Europe ? And Benban is yet to be completed the last i read,...and that is 7 years since its inception !..following much refinancing and tarrif changes etc to entice developers. Usd$4.0 bn for a hopeful 500MW average output.!.. And, whilst it was being built and hailed as the biggest Solar plant in the World. and cornerstone to Egypts move to “net zero” etc,...the Egyptian Gov quietly bought 12.0 GW of gas fueled generation to keep the lights on ! These Solar plants are a freeking JOKE ,!

[@craigthebrute3262]

@@weinisable I believe Benban is a 1.8 GW plant, financed by private investment, not the government. The gas plants are using gas from the Zohr gas field, again not something the Egyptian government pays for. Both projects demonstrate the viability of saharan infrastructure investment.

[@weinisable]

@@craigthebrute3262 Benban is a 1.65GW total planned install ( Nameplate !) but made up of some 40 individual developments. ...Not all of which have been completed yet. Read the background of this $4 bn project and why it has been 7 years since its inception ! Not a shining example of infrastructure build !

[@AnalystPrime]

I have been telling people this for years; power lines cost less than batteries. But some people just don't seem to get it. Someone actually claimed that it cannot be done because it is impossible to put cables across seas. It was bad enough when idiots use decades old data when we are talking about modern tech, the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1866!

[@offgridwanabe]

When your energy comes from another country you better hope they stay friendly and are not captured by new political intent.

[@lis0028]

Like gas from russia

[@davidwatson2399]

@@lis0028 Or oil from ---------

[@mantabletin935]

Don't worry, Morocco will be as reliable friend as Russia ;-)

[@Makatea]

Morocco still having close ties to the former colonial power France, you Brexiteers better get those fishing and Northern Ireland disputes sorted, otherwise this great idea might very well run afoul of UKs failed policies.

[@ingridschmid1709]

@@Makatea Lots of ties remain although I wouldn't overstate their importance , I do not believe Morocco has such prejudice against the UK and anyways could pretty fast divest the generated power towards other clients should relations sour for an unforeseeable reason The main trouble with this endeavour I can think of is that such concentrated mega power links are in essence fragile as was shown with the accidental partial breakdown of the 2000 Megawatt trans-channel link . I haven't seen any Brexiteers on this thread so why are you so gratuitously trolling ?

[@bertiewalker5140]

Sun Cable here in Australia is a similar project for power to Singapore but it’s only 3GW with batteries. Maybe the world will go this way and before you know it you have the infrastructure to do this. But you still need those batteries. Great video.

[@rocket3man]

The biggest concern has to be the long term stability of Morocco to guarantee the investment and sustainability of the supply!

[@samirr7181]

Morocco is the most stable and safest country in the region.

[@confusedofhinckley5294]

@@samirr7181 "in the region". But relative to northern Europe -??? What if there is a change of government, civil war, etc.? What if terrorists from a third country blow the cables? It's a brilliant idea and I support it, but we must ALWAYS be thinking about energy security.

[@samirr7181]

@@confusedofhinckley5294 you obviously do not know Morocco very well. I suggest that you educate yourself about it. There is a constitutional Monarchy ( oldest dynasty in the world next to the Japanese one) in place where governments are elected democratically since the independence in 1956. New one was elected just a couple of weeks ago. Chances of a civil war in Morocco are as slim as in England. Morocco has the biggest automotive industry in the Africa as an example where many European giants are installed already.

[@rocket3man]

@@samirr7181 thanks Samir - the investors must be relieved to hear that confirmation from you!

[@zeratultc]

The problem is how Morocco could use UK’s dependency on that energy to blackmail them…

[@philreilly6959]

Thinking in these mega project terms leads me to think wistfully about an earth grid as opposed to national grids. It's never likely to happen, but wouldn't that be an amazing future. Totally green energy to every home, business and industry on the planet twenty-four hours a day 365 days a year. Such abundant energy would inevitability result in cheaper energy which could be a win for everyone in the world. It also mean an amazing legacy to leave to our future generations. Ah! Well. When people within most countries still argue that climate change is a myth, what are the chances of garnering agreement at a world level? Thanks for yet another thought-provoking video. The standard of your offerings is phenomenally high. I haven't listened to a single one where I wasn't seriously impressed with your grasp of the topic in question!

[@grinpick]

I can't be the only one to have watched this informative video and thought that an undersea cable would be vulnerable to sabotage from terrorist and/or military antagonists. Existing overland transmission lines are also vulnerable, of course. But the first think I had on the subject was that undersea cables might be easier to interrupt surreptitiously and harder to subsequently repair.

[@JustHaveaThink]

There are thousands of subsea cables all over the ocean floors carrying power and communications links light fibre optics already. It's a pretty mature and pretty secure industry.

[@rockon7848]

Very few terrorist organizations will have access to the deep sea submersibles needed to reach the cables on the ocean floor.

[@musaran2]

@@JustHaveaThink ...and they still regularly get snapped by jackasses dragging their anchors/nets where it is forbidden. (and the occasional landslide, or unclear cause) There are ships (with crew) kept permanently at the ready to fix them.

[@FoodwaysDistribution]

How can that be done without getting electrocuted? even if you decide to stay in the ship and blast it, surely the entire area will be electrified.

[@catandtheostrich]

A few miles north east from Hunterston, in the city of Perth, is a company called “Hydrostatic Extrusions” with decades of experience of making copper clad aluminium cables, for electricity distribution, cables for submarine passive sonar, etc.

[@trueriver1950]

No doubt skilled workers will be head-hunted, pushing up the wages of those who stay put...

[@khalidh3091]

It's really an incredible projet, I am from Morocco and we have heard a lot about it here. I hope the project will succeed and will not go the way of another similar project : Deserted a German initiated project which seems to have been canceled.

[@notransfat1]

I think you mean Desertec.

[@khalidh3091]

@@notransfat1 Yes sorry, Desertec alas Gboard thought it was a better spelling but I didn't pay attention thanks 😃😃

[@markzart33]

Yes we all hope so too, but take heart, Oil companies have to re-deploy their capital into renewables if they really are to become "Energy Companies" and this kind of money is not that hard to raise. We have a sligtly humerous saying here: " a billion here, a couple of billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money"

[@Alan_UK]

Another very good video. I found the animated Cfd diagrams very helpful. The point about wind energy in reality paying little back when prices were above the strike price was new to me.

[@andylane7142]

This is some of the best news in realistically deliverable energy baseload I’ve ever heard. its even scalable beyond current plans and once we’ve worked out the engineering and logistics it will be something other countries will be queueing up to buy from us. Brilliant news.

[@sami.ehlers]

So exciting! Thanks, Dave

[@r.ladaria135]

Sadly, the people in the kingdom of Morocco is really poor. Every day they risk they lives to reach Europe. But the king and very few are obscene rich. The Monarchy could blow up like Iran in the 70' .

[@lofturhjalmarsson9896]

yea this is a main point l guess, a revolution could make the solar farm useless, unless there was like a nato army to guard it or could come to it on a short notice , but then must be willing to shoot men dead who approach , and will the moreroccococko public like the new solar plant if this is the plan....and if they shot men what will buddies do , fire bombs up in air that land on the plant , so perimeter of guarding it must be how wery big.so better in a place with nobody living and l guess that is in disputed land south of morocco is it called west sahara.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

This would help mitigate that issue. But yeah, you are right.

[@r.ladaria135]

@@lofturhjalmarsson9896 Well in fact there is an ongoing war just there in the west Sahara.

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@ R. Ladaria it is sad Morocco has some of the most medicinally potent olive oil in the world all the people should be prosperous. Just have to check who keeps a shit head dicKtator in power? Hhhmm let’s see .....

[@TheMagicJIZZ]

@@lofturhjalmarsson9896 why would the Moroccan People do that? It's gonna provide them solar jobs

[@lomiification]

The timing of real engineering's video is interesting after this

[@trueriver1950]

Link?

[@steverichmond7142]

Do not depend on Hinckley point.. It was always an expensive disaster and it's nowhere near finished.... A lot of small power sources with battery storage are the answer

[@murraycrichton2001]

Of course it's not finished, they only started building a few years ago.

[@steverichmond7142]

@@murraycrichton2001 It was started in 2018 and was originally intended to open in 2023 using construction techniques from Japan where a nuclear power plant of similar size took 39 months. I worked in the nuclear industry for many years in the UK and France and the whole thing will be a financial disaster. It should be stopped now... the costs are way out of control.

[@murraycrichton2001]

@@steverichmond7142 I agree the place is a disaster. I know a lot of people will not work there. I have no problems with H&S, but some of the rules machine drivers have to deal with is actually dangerous. And the paperwork just for a roundabout to go in. Let's just say the manager couldn't see way we were pissing ourselves laughing at her.

[@steverichmond7142]

@@murraycrichton2001 I've been there many times with H&S especially working on BNFL sites. The contracts encourage delays and over-runs, and incompetent H&S is a perfect excuse.

[@howarthgreenoak4257]

Good stuff again. Well done. A little bit of context around the CfD auctions as well; it's not just about the ££ number. Hinckley's strike price is locked in for 35 years, whereas offshore wind is only 15yrs. You start running a forecast model (with a moderately stable long term wholesale price) for total tax payer burden and nuclear isn't just twice as expensive...it's closer to 10x!!!! Madness. Take the delta, and invest in greener projects like Xlinks / tidal lagoons (debatable), storage (mineral and battery), smart grids, VTG, etc... in the search for base load. And that's before we even start considering ACTUAL decommissioning costs!

[@laxtose]

supply chain is too long. It's defense from terrorism would be a major concern.

[@mbak7801]

Massive cable on the bottom of the sea would be a super hard terrorist target. Russia and France could plant explosives against it but I doubt they would cut the cable unless there was a war.

[@laxtose]

@@mbak7801 Depth charges can easily crush a submarine. Any large depth charge would disable the cable

[@thomasjalabert658]

Going all the way around rather than connecting to the spannish grid ! It's very nice to see morocco as a leader of the transformation of the eletricity grid. The source is very regular but it's not baseload, you will have 0MW at night.

[@TerraPosse]

The Desertec Consortium had the same idea, just on a grander scale in the early 2000's involving the whole Maghreb region and supplying the whole of the EU through a HVDC link across the Straits of Gibraltar. It ultimately failed and fell apart years later (Arab Spring, Financial Crash etc.) but not before building a pilot PV array in Morocco. Pure coincidence, surely. Supply during non-sunshine hours was to be maintained using molten salt storage systems on site. Quite cutting edge 20 years ago and hence maybe ahead of its time. Regarding 'modernising monolithic mains grid' versus 'decentralising generation and distribution', I don't think there is a right or wrong. It depends on the country in question and their infrastructure. For European countries with well developed but ageing mains grid infrastructure both approaches are needed IMHO. Interesting announcement by Tesla last week in Germany where Tesla wants to become a utility energy provider using the decentralised power of their Powerwall storage solution. Perhaps an interesting future video for JHAT when the idea is more fleshed out?

[@r.ladaria135]

Uhmm Morocco and Argelia are constantly in the verge of war. No idea why.

[@joe7272]

decentralization is the key. A geomagnetic storm can bring down a giant interconnected grid

[@TerraPosse]

@@r.ladaria135 Care to show how you came to that conclusion?

[@garyday615]

@@r.ladaria135 ah yes that mythical land Argelia which hides in a phase shifted piece of land also occupied by Algeria. 🤣😳🧐

[@r.ladaria135]

@@TerraPosse they broke diplomatic relations, again. Argelia is the base of the NLF of west Sahara "frente polisario" that regullary attacks Morocco. .. and so on.

[@boringlyfactual6368]

Outstanding as always.

[@QALibrary]

it sounds like a British verson of The Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) project

[@chinookvalley]

I'll give it a look!

[@richardrichards5982]

The ASEAN Suncable Project is very similar. Taking power from a large solar generation area near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory via HVDC cable a location near Darwin then under sea cable to Singapore. Tennant Creek has few days where the 'sun don't shine'! Personal experience working there for several projects. There are large battery systems planned for Darwin to provide base load power to Singapore. Looking forward to this project getting off the ground.

[@krishmav]

This is great news! World needs more of such projects.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

So how much local renewable & battery storage would the cost of that cable buy?

[@NaumRusomarov]

a few more GWs of wind and solar.

[@ldm3027]

thats the whole point of using other peoples renewables and feeding them here by interconnectors - their solar and wind resource is cheaper and longer lasting during the day and night so the cost of the cable is not significant. solar in the sunbelt will be $10 / MWh by 2025 - try doing that in Britain

[@hamjudo]

With maintenance, the cable will operate for more than 50 years, assuming that the navies of the world can keep large ships from dragging anchors through them. So the one time cable cost will be stabilizing the electric grid for decades to come. The installation cost for solar power will be roughly comparable, but almost twice as much sunlight reaches the ground in the desert.

[@acmefixer1]

Remember that the big utilities don't want too many customers to be independent of the grid by having a solar array and battery storage. They want to keep customers depending on the grid so they can keep the money flowing in. As more and more customers see what they can do (without the utilities), they may "cut the cord" and go off grid and save money, just like a lot of cable TV customers have done.

[@jasonwager2268]

@@hamjudo good luck with ships not dragging their anchors on the ocean floor.

[@terrystephens1102]

Australia is in the process of sending power from the north to Singapore via submarine cable.

[@brianwheeldon4643]

Great Dave, Thanks so much. There was talk over a decade or more ago of a mega European solar facility in the Sahara with the cables getting to mainland Europe through the eastern mediterranean land corridor of Egypt, and upward via the Lebanon. This sounds equally mega, and while it's putting lots of eggs into one basket, it would not only provide UK with reliable and pretty much fully sustainable energy 20 hours or more a day, but would promote excellent links with northern Africa, which is also urgently needed, and an important step forward between the global north and global south. Less invasion killing and extraction, and more cooperation and social justice. I'm for that any day of the week.

[@petterbirgersson4489]

This is a the kind of mental meltdown that is brought about by the brexit. The cost if the lion part of the cable had been dug down through Spain and France would have been vastly lower. That would also have allowed Spain and France to feed in on the cable.

[@robertlipka9541]

Is undersea cable more expensive than overland?

[@petterbirgersson4489]

@@robertlipka9541 It ought to be, intuitively. Installing infrastructure in the ocean should be more expensive since it takes a lot of extra equipment and people with special skills like deep sea diving etc. Furthermore the cable has to withstand the more difficult conditions of the sea.

[@dewiz9596]

@@petterbirgersson4489 : Hmmm. . . Laying a cable ON the ocean’s continental shelf seems easier than having to dig a trench over hill and dale, having to negotiate passage rights, etc. . . Just a “gut feeling”. . .

[@marcdefaoite]

@Petter Birgersson@@robertlipka9541 I imagine that getting permission to lay a new cable across tracts of seabed is far simpler than crossing land owned by hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of private landowners.

[@Makatea]

Whether sea or land is the way to go, it would be nice to have interconnects to Spain, Portugal and France to share both costs and benefits.

[@CharlesAustin]

Expanding this idea to a maximization of electricity to help machines to counterbalance the fatal increase of green house gas .. !! So bring it on !! Thanks for the important reveal !!

[@Soothsayer210]

i hope they would have considered the dust storms and the like that would cover the solar panels which could potentially increase because of global warming. Personally, i see more potential for micro decentralized power plants and smart grids connecting them in a two way direction as a better solution.

[@abloodorange5233]

Hopefully in the design they have elevated it to a certain level above the ground.

[@truetech4158]

The tidal currents are that of a major density of renewable power potential, on a planet mostly covered in water that nobody has ever walked on. #TheDigitalLifeguardProject-_-

[@markmcdougal1199]

@@abloodorange5233 Yes, and as the generation facilities are close to the sea, you could install a desalination plant, then develop the soil, and plant crops that don't require full, direct sun, under the raised solar panels. I've seen these in vids lately.

[@YearRoundHibernater]

'2000 perminant jobs in Morrocco'. pressumably many of them have to do with maininance of the site. Also the 2 solutions aren't mutually exclusive we can do both.

[@YvetteArby]

I was thinking about the dust as well…but in terms of the wind turbines. It is probably going to cause some friction and wear. Not to mention that climate change might make conditions less favorable for Morocco to supply these necessary conditions. 😕 Sorry to be negative! I do like the idea of solar power and wind power though.

[@mobayguy]

Thank you for an absolutely excellent presentation - I understand clearly - Well done!

[@RB-eg7mj]

This sounds so good, too good. It strikes me that this project ticks all the boxes, like they wrote it to appeal to all the big players. As always we want a knight in shinning armour to save us. Where as in reality the things that will truely make a difference don't grab headlines. What about an app that turns on your WM & DW when there is lots of green elec. Or maybe if we had a duel fuel elec & gas boiler that could soak up excess elec.

[@b.6603]

Same sensation here. Running the HVDC cable directly to the UK instead of linking to the European grid and upgrading capacity to take it north is veeery sus.

[@joe7272]

the only true way to store energy on a mass scale is similar to what technology connections did: cool your house when energy is cheap to offset the high costs when it heats up in the afternoon

[@markmuir7338]

At 3.6GW, it's nowhere near enough to replace all the UK's base load (~20GW). So it's only part of the puzzle. Since the UK already has HVDC connections to Europe, the UK can sell excess capacity from this project to Europe. It seems sensible. But the cost sounds overly optimistic to me.

[@robertweekley5926]

@@joe7272 - Or, change from Pushing Heat Outside by using Traditional A/C, to sucking out that Heat, for Winter Storage, and Reuse! Or, somewhat simpler, use a series of Pipes, Buried jus an average of about 8 Feet down, with sufficient Length to allow air to cool to 10°C/50°F, to provide Cooling for our Homes! (I call this, for want of better terminology, "Low Grade Geothermal", since the biggest piece of machinery needed to Trench, could be a Common Backhoe!) Idea comes from "Citrus in Nebraska" KZbin Video (s)!

[@mm-qd1ho]

@@b.6603 This circumvents the EU-to-UK import duty on electrons

[@WalkinBeauty278]

Sun don't always shine ...wind don't always blow...but LOVE can always flow from those who let it show

[@spinnetti]

Seems really an inefficient method - why not send the power to Spain and work it through the grid?

[@itekani]

I don't think there's an extra couple of gigawatts capacity in the grid just waiting to be used...

[@TheMagicJIZZ]

Yeah Spain...lmao who's a enemy of the UK? That wants to seize Gibraltar and doesn't even recognize it? Unless you want UK to pay a annual payment and buy land in Spain?

The entire grid between "here" and "there" would really absorb most of the capacity. The current would simply run towards wherever the highest price is at the moment, but still the amounts of transmission needed to alleviate for seasonal storage and intermittent renewable is sort of staggering. So this is drop in the ocean more or less. Also, transferring via the regular grid all the way would incure insane losses in this case. HVDC has much lower loss for long distances, but it will still be far from lossless with a line this long.

[@williamrbuchanan4153]

Envisage a dusty load of solar panels, or a dune move cover. Negative, yes but we have not got enough blower to keep surfaces clean.need that guy on ‘Mars Rover window cleaner’ with his whirlwinds to visit.

[@kevinpaine7893]

US$23B for 3.6GW with a lifespan of 20-25 years. Barakah nuclear power plant cost US$24B for 5.6GW with a capacity factor over 90% and a maximum lifespan of 60+ years.

[@trueriver1950]

you left out the comparison between the decommissioning costs, and the length of time it takes for a spent windmill to become "safe" as compared to radioactive waste... yeah, I know, leave that for our grandchildren to sort out, not our problem...

[@jamiefox54]

Awesome, love it! Great news. Yes, a few downsides but overall delighted.

[@Tsuchimursu]

building your energy baseload in africa doesn't sound like the safest option during a crisis... Be it in the UK, worldwide, or just in Morocco...

[@cyberista]

Yes, re. troubles highlighted here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3mon5ukosd8n9E

[@williammillard687]

Ironic that Morocco is considered to be a safer bet than some of the UK’s geographically- closer friends/allies..

[@jonnyaxelsson9940]

If that was the only link, that would definitely be true. But in a network of hundreds of similar projects, one falling off the grid could easily be managed.

[@sbl17jackson37]

I agree. Being dependant on another country for electricity is a dumb move by the UK. Battery storage, offshore wind, and rooftop solar are far better options.

[@carlpodrecca5177]

@@williammillard687 the whole point of it is the 365 of sun and wind everyday.

[@ns4235]

This is a great idea. Strategic concerns would have to be addressed though.

[@cyberista]

What are the figures for transmission losses over HVDC cable? One figure I've seen is 3.5% per 1000km

[@ThisRandomUsername]

Not to directly answer your question (I don't know), you can guess the transmission efficiency by looking at the size of the cables and seeing the voltage they run at vs. the length of the cable. With things at scale like energy it's a balancing act. If you spend more on thicker cables you need to spend less on the generators. Efficiency doesn't play as big a part as total cost, especially with renewables. The longer the cable the more it makes sense to not worry as much about efficiency and more about sheer generation power at the other side.

[@nomadMik]

I didn't realise undersea power cables were a thing. Since overland cables have to be kept high off the ground, and far from each other, to keep them viable, I would've thought that surrounding them with salt water would've made them completely ineffective. I can't remember enough of my university electrical engineering to know if DC makes the difference here, so I'd love it if somebody could explain what I'm missing. I'm also curious if the cables would really hug the coast, the way the graphic implies. Ocean depth can be measured in single units of kilometres, so why detour hundreds of kilometres to avoid that depth?

[@danielcockerill3761]

@@nomadMik I was reading about the Australian to Singapore cable which comes in at around 3500kms. It also has some deep parts it has to get around. I remember reading there was an issue going past a certain depth not sure of it was maintenance or the challenge of laying it on not a flat bottom

[@killuazoldyck1352]

@@nomadMik Are you assuming the cables are not insulated? Undersea cables are heavily insulated and protected, The water around them helps cool the cable increasing it's capacity over air cooled cables. DC is more efficient at high voltages, and there are many cables like this in service today.

[@nomadMik]

@@killuazoldyck1352 Of course they're electrically insulated, but isn't the EMF part of the problem at those voltages? And isn't the point of high voltage to keep current low, so there's less loss to heat? And yes, I hear people say DC is more efficient; I'm just curious why.

[@matthewsaxe6383]

Looks like a model for many future projects.

[@NetZeroTech]

😂 No need for hallucinogenic drugs. Love it. Thank you 🙏

[@TadeuszCantwell]

It's not as if lots of Hippies went to Morocco for drugs in the 70's, so they are not mutually exclusive.

[@NetZeroTech]

@@TadeuszCantwell 😉

[@cliffstevenson5773]

Keep this research and analysis coming - please!

[@nathanbloom1844]

I love the idea of harnessing base-load energy production, but breakdowns like this show that renewable technologies still need baseline support that creates high-level jobs. I can't think of any realistic reason to not agree with projects like this.

[@DavidHager1]

4:30 TWO 1.8 gigawatt grid connections??? Great scott!

[@xiaoka]

Why isn’t Spain doing this too? The cables could be a lot shorter… or if Spain doesn’t need it cause they could do it themselves locally, then xlinks should put their solar panels in Spain.

[@theamici]

Spain would probably prefer to develop their own domestic power plants. They already have large scale solar projects there.

[@giocapo5380]

IMO is just UK trying to become more and more indipendent from EU,

​@@theamici Yeah, and Spain is really very sunny isnt it. And probably has decent wind. Still, we could definitely use a load of HVDC links to new renewable plants across the mediterranean. But Moroccos is as stable as a rock compared to some other countries there, sadly...

[@stevepirie8130]

Doesn’t Spain have massive solar farms already? Thought I’d seen them in National Geographic years ago

[@mbak7801]

Spain being in the EU means that Macron would use all the leverage he could to get the project cancelled or divert power to France instead. Best to avoid the EU completely.