Belgian maritime infrastructure firm Jan De Nul and Australia’s Fortescue will partner to lay a subsea cable to export green electrons from North Africa to Europe, according to a statement. The timeline and investment value for the project were not disclosed.

Green electrons, Enterprise? Green electrons are basically energy produced from renewable energy resources, according to Fortescue. Green hydrogen serves as the foundation for green molecules materials such as green ammonia. However, these molecules are only considered green if the carbon is meticulously managed throughout the supply chain and reused.

What they said: “There is a massive opportunity to send renewable electrons from Morocco and North Africa to Europe to industries and consumers…” Fortescue Chairman Andrew Forrest said, adding that Europe will soon begin imposing carbon taxes globally through its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on industries that fail to convert energy supplies to renewable energy.

Fortescue has been preparing the energy: Morocco’s fertilizer giant OCP Group and Fortescue formed a JV in April to develop green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Morocco. The partners will collaborate to supply fertilizers, hydrogen, and ammonia domestically in the kingdom and export to European and global markets. The firm also received nearly EUR 204 mn from the EU to finance its flagship green ammonia plant which will ship surplus green ammonia to domestic and European markets.

And the Morocco-UK interconnection is also underway: UK-based renewables developer Xlinks is currently constructing its interconnection project with Morocco which will comprise a 3.8k km high-voltage direct current subsea cable transporting 3.6 GW of renewable energy — nearly 8% of the UK’s current requirements — from a 10.5 GW solar and wind farm in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region to Britain’s power grid in Devon. It will also include a 20 MW battery storage system.

Jan De Nul already has an interconnection agreement with Egypt in the works: The company inked an agreement with Egypt to conduct feasibility studies on the possibility of building a Mediterranean subsea powerline with a capacity of 2 GW to export renewable electricity to Europe.

There are big plans to link North Africa to the EU through Egypt: Italy’s CESI and Prysmian Group, along with the UAE’s K&K group, and Germany’s Siemens Energy are carrying out a detailed feasibility study for the development of an electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Italy. Egypt has a planned 3 GW interconnector project with Greece which would see Egypt export its renewables surplus to mainland Greece.

And over in Tunisia…: Italy and Tunisia are already working on a EUR 1 bn electric interconnection project dubbed Elmed. The 600 MW subsea interconnector will transport clean power generated from hydroelectricity and is targeting an operational launch by 2028. Italy is also planning to provide political backing for the Medlink project in a bid to import renewable energy from North Africa to Northern Italy via subsea lines.

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