Australia Approves World`s Largest Solar Precinct, with Power to Reach Singapore 4300 km Away

The Australian Government has granted environmental approval for a A$30 billion (approximately NT$645.8 billion) project to build what is set to become the world's largest solar precinct. The project will involve the construction of a vast solar power facility in Australia's remote Northern Territory, with electricity eventually transmitted via a subsea cable to customers in Singapore, some 4,300 kilometres away.

Australian company SunCable plans to build a solar power facility covering 12,400 hectares, with electricity transmitted along an approximately 800-kilometre overhead transmission line to Darwin in northern Australia. Power will also be transmitted via a 4,300-kilometre subsea cable to large industrial customers in Singapore.

The Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) project aims to deliver up to 6GW of green electricity. Australia's then Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, said the project would "help make Australia a renewable energy superpower" while providing a boost to the Australian economy.

In a written statement on Wednesday, 21 August, Plibersek said: "This massive project is a piece of generation-defining infrastructure. It will be the largest solar precinct in the world – and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy."

The project was initially backed by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. As part of a 2022 "green economy" agreement, then Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted cooperation on the project during a state visit.

However, in January 2023, SunCable entered voluntary administration following a funding dispute between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes, putting the project in jeopardy. In May 2023, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures agreed to acquire the company, with the acquisition completed in September 2023.

SunCable Australia Managing Director Cameron Garnsworthy said he was pleased that a major regulatory hurdle had been cleared. The company would now focus on the next stage of planning as it works towards a Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2027.

SunCable said electricity supply was expected to begin in the early 2030s.

News source: The Liberty Times