'Generation-defining' Australian renewables project that could power Singapore gets go-ahead
Vast amounts of solar power will be generated in Australian outback and sent to northern city of Darwin, with a portion planned to travel via subsea cable to Singapore
The Australian government has granted environmental approvals to a 6GW renewable energy and transmission project claimed to be the “world’s largest” that could send green power as far as Singapore.
Developer SunCable – backed by Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes – is now a step closer to building the record-smashing Australia-Asia Power Link in the Northern Territory, which the government said will be Australia’s biggest ever renewables project.
SunCable claims that this is the “world’s largest renewable energy and transmission project.”
It would be the world’s largest interconnector project, with 800km transmission line running from the Australian outback to the northern city of Darwin, which would use 4GW of the power generated.
A subsea cable is then planned to send a further 1.75GW of green power 4,300km to Singapore, although SunCable said it still needs approvals from the government of the city-state and Indonesia for that to happen.
“This massive project is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure,” said Australia’s minister for the environment and water, Tanya Plibersek. “It will be the largest solar precinct in the world – and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy.”
She continued the project will help turn Australia into a “renewable energy superpower,” which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a key campaign pledge when he was elected in 2022.
SunCable estimates that the project will deliver A$20bn (US$13.5bn) in economic value to the Northern Territory and support an average of 6,800 direct and indirect jobs for each year of the construction phase.
SunCable’s managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said this was a “landmark moment” in the project’s journey “following four years of extensive assessment and public consultation with stakeholders around Australia.”
A final investment decision on the project is expected in 2027 with electricity supply to commence in the early 2030s.
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