After the Australian government gave the 30-billion Australian dollar ($ 19 billion ) project environmental certifications, an ambitious plan to construct a massive solar farm in remote northern Australia that would transmit power via submarine cable to Singapore is moving closer.
Sun Cable, an Australian company, intends to construct a 12, 400-hectare solar farm and supply electricity to Darwin, a city in northern Australia, via an 800-kilometer ( 497-mile ) overhead transmission line, before connecting it to large-scale industrial customers in Singapore via a 4, 300-kilometer (2, 672-mile ) submarine cable.
Up to six gigawatts of clean energy will be delivered annually through the Australia-Asia PowerLink project, which, according to American Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, did “help turn Australia into a clean energy superpower” and increase its economy.
” This huge project is a generation-defining element of infrastructure”, Plibersek said in a written statement on Wednesday. It will be the biggest solar district in the world, and it will establish Australia as the world’s leader in terms of green energy.
The project was originally supported by Mike Cannon-Brookes, a co-founder of Atlassian, and Asian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest. As part of a “green business” deal signed in 2022, former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and current Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the country to highlight the programs.
The job fell apart in January 2023 when Sun Cable went into voluntary management as a result of Forrest and Cannon-Brookes ‘ financing dispute. By May of that year, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes ‘ Grok Ventures acquired the firm, finalizing the invasion in September 2023.
Cameron Garnsworthy, managing director of SunCable Australia, expressed satisfaction that the company had passed a significant regulation obstacle and would now concentrate its efforts on the planning stage following the completion of the project’s goal of a 2027 Final Investment Decision.
The business predicted that electric would start to flow in the early 2030s.
Australia, which relies on fuel and gasoline as well as royalties from exporting those fuels to support its market, has been a politically sensitive issue for almost 20 years.
Due to its historically high reliance on fossil fuels, it has previously been one of the worst per head greenhouse gas emitters in the world.
The government’s top opposition party announced in June that it would start building its second nuclear power plants as early as 2035, guaranteeing that the main functions will have a voice in the debate over how Australia can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions at elections expected in a year.
Since 2007, there have n’t been any elections where the parties have used the same carbon reduction initiatives.
Australians have the option of paying for an expensive nuclear dream that may never occur, according to Plibersek, “or a clean energy transition that is already underway that will create jobs and drive down prices.”
