Australia approves $13.5 billion project to export solar energy to Singapore

Australia announced on Wednesday that it has given the green light to a A$20 Billion ($13.5 Billion) solar project. The project will ship energy from the giant solar farm located in the north of the country to Singapore via a 4,300 km undersea cable.

Tanya Plibersek, Environment Minister, said SunCable’s Australia-Asia Power Link Project would help meet the growing demand for renewable energies at home and abroad.

SunCable says that a final investment decision will be made in 2027, and electricity will begin to flow in the early 30s.

Plibersek stated that the approval is subject to strict conditions in order to protect the environment. The project must also avoid the habitats of greater bilbys, which are marsupials similar to rabbits with long, floppy ears.

The project will be developed in two stages and aim to provide up to six gigawatts (GB) of green electricity for large industrial customers in Darwin - the capital of Australia's Northern Territory - as well as in Singapore.

The approval comes at a time when the centre-left coalition is ramping up renewable energy projects, while the opposition coalition suggests building nuclear plants by 2050 to replace coal-fired electricity in a country that currently bans nuclear power.

SunCable is owned by Mike Cannon-Brookes. He said that the approval was a "vote of confidence" for the project.

Cannon-Brookes is the co-founder and environmental activist of the tech company Atlassian. Last year, he said that the project would be viable, and outside investors will be attracted to it.

SunCable Australia's Managing Director Cameron Garnsworthy stated in a press release that the company would now concentrate its efforts on the second stage of planning, to advance the project toward a final decision by 2027. The statement did not give any details about its financing plans.

SunCable has said that it is in discussions with Singapore's energy regulator about the approval conditional for the project's interconnector cable component, and with Indonesian authorities on building the cable within its waters.

Last month, the Northern Territory Government and the Territory's Environment Watchdog approved the project.

(source: Reuters)