TotalEnergies has invested £20 million to acquire a minority stake in Xlinks First Limited, a company founded in 2019 in the United Kingdom, joining fellow investors Octopus Energy and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.

Xlinks plans to develop a giant renewable project in Morocco (combining solar and wind) to supply green electricity to the United Kingdom through the installation of high-voltage direct current (HDVC) subsea cables, coupled with a large battery energy storage. Upon completion, the project is expected to deliver enough renewable, reliable and affordable electricity to power over 7 million British homes.

Simon Morrish, CEO of Xlinks, said: “We are excited to welcome Europe’s largest energy company to be a part of our ambitious vision to foster long distance power exchanges through this iconic partnership with the UK and Morocco. TotalEnergies’ investment goes far beyond capital, providing a rare combination of expertise in areas that meet the unique challenges we face. This marks a highly successful end to 2023 and will give us an even greater impetus to achieve our goals as we enter 2024.”

Vincent Stoquart, SVP Renewables at TotalEnergies, said: “We are delighted to join the Xlinks project and its other investors to support the development of such a pioneering and ambitious endeavor. This innovative project will benefit from our track record in developing large and complex integrated energy projects.”