NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — An ambitious plan to build a massive solar farm in a remote part of Australia's north and send the power to Singapore via an undersea cable moved a step closer on Wednesday when the Australian government granted environmental approval for the Aussie-dollar ($19 billion) project.
Australian company Suncable plans to build a 12,400-hectare solar farm and transmit the power over 800 kilometers (497 miles) of overhead lines to the northern Australian city of Darwin, and then over a further 4,300 kilometers (2,672 miles) of undersea cables to large industrial customers in Singapore.
The Australia-Asia Powerlink project aims to deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity each year, which Australia's Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said will help “transform Australia into a renewable energy powerhouse” and jump-start the economy.
“This massive project will be a defining piece of infrastructure for the next generation,” Plibersek said in a statement on Wednesday. “It will be the largest solar farm in the world and will herald Australia as a global leader in green energy.”
The project was initially backed by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, and the plans were highlighted during an official visit by then Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as part of the 2022 “green economy” deal.
In January 2023, the project collapsed when Sun Cable went into administration following a funding dispute between Forest and Cannon-Brookes. By May of that year, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures had acquired the company, completing the acquisition in September 2023.
Suncable Australia managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said he was pleased to have overcome a major regulatory hurdle and added: “We are now focused on the next planning stages to progress the project towards a Final Investment Decision, targeted for 2027.”
The company said power delivery is expected to begin in the early 2030s.
Energy has been a hot political issue in Australia for nearly two decades, as the country relies on coal and gas to power its economy, and royalties from exports of those fuels.
This reliance on fossil fuels has historically made Japan one of the countries with the worst per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
Australia's main opposition party announced plans in June to build the country's first nuclear power plant as early as 2035, ensuring that elections due in a year will divide the major parties over how Australia should cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Political parties have not gone to election with the same carbon reduction policies since 2007.
“Australians are faced with a choice between the job-creating and price-lowering renewable energy transition that is already underway, or paying for an expensive nuclear fantasy that may never come to fruition,” Mr Plibersek said.
