Australia said on Wednesday it had given the green light to a $20 billion ($13.5 billion) solar power project that plans to deliver power from a giant solar farm in the north of the country to Singapore via a 4,300-kilometre (2,672-mile) undersea cable, The Peninsula reports.
Authorities have announced environmental approval for SunCable’s $24 billion project in Australia’s remote north to power three million homes.
The project, which will include an array of panels, batteries and eventually a cable connecting Australia to Singapore, is backed by tech billionaire and green activist Mike Cannon-Brooks. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said:
“It will be the largest solar precinct in the world – and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy.”
Power generation is expected to start in 2030 and will provide four gigawatts of energy for domestic consumption. A further two gigawatts will be sent to Singapore via submarine cable, providing about 15 per cent of the city-state’s needs.
SunCable Australia managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said the approval was a “landmark moment in the project’s journey.”
Despite being given the green light on Wednesday, there are still many approval processes and other hurdles to overcome. The project must get approval from Singapore’s energy market authority, the Indonesian government and Australia’s indigenous communities. Garnsworthy said:
“SunCable will now focus its efforts on the next stage of planning to advance the project towards a final investment decision targeted by 2027.”
Struggle for supremacy in solar power
Countries around the world are rushing to commission large-scale solar projects to ease the transition away from polluting fossil fuels. Leading the way is China, which is building nearly twice as many wind and solar farms as all other countries combined.
Earlier this year, it commissioned the 3.5 gigawatt Midong solar power plant, its largest to date.
Australia, by contrast, remains one of the world’s leading exporters of coal and gas despite suffering the effects of climate change, from heatwaves to floods and bushfires. And while Australians are among the world’s most energetic users of domestic solar panels, a number of governments are hesitant to embrace renewable energy.
Renewables accounted for 32 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2022 – compared to coal’s 47 per cent share, according to the latest government figures. Plibersek hailed the project as a way to meet Australia’s projected energy shortfall and create “14,300 new jobs in northern Australia.”
“World first” project
Ken Baldwin, director of the Energy Change Institute at the Australian National University, said the project was a “world first” to export renewable electricity from solar and wind on such a scale. He told AFP:
“Australia has some of the best solar and wind resources of any country, and as a result, is installing solar and wind at one of the fastest rates of any country in the world on a per capita basis.”
But this momentum must continue, especially if Australia is to reach the net zero target by 2050, Baldwin said.
Australia has, over the last five years, invested heavily in solar and wind, but it needs to double and triple that investment in order to reach its climate trajectory towards a net zero future by 2050. Baldwin also added that Australia will need around 100 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity by the 2030s, and the SunCable project will only provide four gigawatts of that need.
