Australia approves $17.6 billion project to export solar power to Singapore

SYDNEY - Australia said on Aug 21 it had given the go-ahead for a A$20 billion (S$17.6 billion) solar project that plans to ship energy from a giant solar farm in the country’s north to Singapore through a 4,300km undersea cable.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said Sun Cable’s flagship Australia-Asia power link project would help meet growing demand for renewable energy at home and abroad.

A final investment decision is expected in 2027 with electricity supply to begin in the early 2030s, according to Sun Cable.

The approval comes with strict conditions to protect nature and the 12,000ha project must avoid the habitat of greater bilby, which are small rabbit-like marsupials with long floppy ears, Ms Plibersek said.

Over two stages of development, the project aims to deliver up to four gigawatts of green electricity to large-scale industrial customers in Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory. Two more gigawatts sent to Singapore via undersea cable will supply about 15 per cent of the city state’s needs.

The approval comes as the centre-left government ramps up renewable energy projects, even as the opposition coalition proposes building nuclear plants to replace coal-fired power by 2050, in a country where nuclear power is currently banned.

Sun Cable, owned by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, said the approval was “a vote of confidence” in the project.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of tech firm Atlassian turned environmental activist, in 2023 said the project was viable and that outside investors would be drawn to it.

“Sun Cable will now focus its efforts on the next stage of planning to advance the project towards a final investment decision targeted by 2027,” Sun Cable Australia managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said in a statement, which did not provide details of its financing plans.

Sun Cable said it was in talks with Singapore’s energy regulator on the conditional approval for the project’s cable inter-connector component and with the Indonesian government on building the cable in its waters.

The project received clearance from the Northern Territory government and the territory’s environment watchdog in July.

Australia is currently one of the world’s leading exporters of coal and gas, but has also been ravaged by the effects of climate change – from intense heat to floods to bush fires.

Although Australians are among the world’s most enthusiastic adopters of household solar panels, a string of governments have been slow to fully embrace renewables.

In 2022, renewables made up 32 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation – compared with coal, which contributed 47 per cent, according to the latest government data.

Climate Council chief executive officer Amanda McKenzie said the new solar hub was a bold step in making Australia a “clean energy powerhouse” and that such projects were essential in “delivering affordable energy and slashing climate pollution”.

“With the closure of coal-fired power stations on the horizon, Australia needs to accelerate the roll-out of solar and storage at every level-rooftops, large-scale projects, and everything in between,” she said. REUTERS, AFP