Tender for world’s longest subsea cable terminated after no compliant application

The UK-headquartered Xlinks has decided to terminate a tender process that sought survey services for what will be the world’s longest subsea cable since no bidder submitted a compliant application.

Xlinks issued the tender for marine geophysical and geotechnical surveys at the end of 2021 for the planned interconnector between Morocco and the UK.

However, the UK company is unable to proceed in accordance with the original tender process as no compliant application was submitted by 17 January, when the tender ended.

The original scope was to have survey activities commencing by mid-June with all works to be completed by 31 December.

The initial round of bid submissions reinforced the challenges of completing the survey through the winter, which could lead to significant downtime, both extending the program and increasing cost on all sides. Additionally, several bidders were unable to complete the required survey activities in the required timeframe, a spokesperson from Xlinks told Offshore Energy.

Following a detailed review and update to the program, two tender processes will now commence. The first for 2022 survey activities, which will consist of a reconnaissance survey along the centre line of the proposed cable route, nearshore and onshore surveys, and another for 2023.

“Our project is an ambitious, ground-breaking undertaking and its requirements are challenging. As such, Xlinks is working with its partners in close collaboration to ensure that timeframes are met, and quality delivered at every stage,” said Stephen Kennedy, head of Procurement and Contract Management at Xlinks.

Intertek is responsible for providing quality assurance and technical advice on marine cable routing, survey specification and procurement for the planned interconnector, under a contract won about a month ago.

The Morocco-UK Power Project will be a new electricity generation facility entirely powered by solar and wind energy combined with a 20GWh/5GW battery storage facility.

Located in Morocco’s renewable energy-rich region of Guelmim Oued Noun, it will cover an approximate area of 1,500 km² and will be connected exclusively to Great Britain.

Most of the route will be buried under the seabed in water depths of 100-250 meters, but the maximum depth is currently planned to be around 700 meters.

The cable will travel on land from the generation site in the Guelmim Oued Noun region and enter the sea northwest of the city of Tantan. It will then follow the Moroccan coastline up the strait of Gibraltar and make its way up the coast of Portugal, Spain and France before going around the isles of Scilly. The cable will then cross through UK territorial waters before landing in Devon.

The project will generate 10.5 GW of zero-carbon electricity from the sun and wind to deliver 3.6 GW of reliable energy for an average of 20+ hours a day. This is said to be enough to provide power to over seven million British homes by 2030.

Once complete, the project will be capable of supplying 8% of Great Britain’s electricity needs.