EGN NEWS DESK
NEWCASTLE, Australia — An bold plan to construct a large photo voltaic farm in distant northern Australia that may transmit power by submarine cable to Singapore is a step nearer after the Australian authorities granted environmental approvals for the 30 billion Australian greenback ($19 billion) mission Wednesday.
Australian firm Sun Cable plans to construct a 12,400-hectare photo voltaic farm and transport electrical energy to the northern Australian metropolis of Darwin by way of an 800-kilometer (497-mile) overhead transmission line, then on to large-scale industrial prospects in Singapore by a 4,300-kilometer (2,672-mile) submarine cable.
The Australia-Asia PowerLink mission goals to ship as much as six gigawatts of inexperienced electrical energy annually, which in keeping with Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will “assist flip Australia right into a renewable power superpower” and enhance its economic system.
“This large mission is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure,” Plibersek stated in a written assertion on Wednesday. “It would be the largest photo voltaic precinct on this planet – and heralds Australia because the world chief in inexperienced power.”
The mission was initially backed by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. The plans had been highlighted throughout a state go to by then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a part of a ’ Green Economy ’ settlement in 2022.
In January 2023, the mission collapsed when Sun Cable entered voluntary administration resulting from a funding dispute between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes. By May of that yr, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures acquired the corporate, finalizing the takeover in September 2023.
SunCable Australia’s managing director Cameron Garnsworthy stated it was happy to have cleared a serious regulatory hurdle “and can now focus its efforts on the subsequent stage of planning to advance the mission in direction of a Final Investment Decision focused by 2027.”
The firm stated electrical energy provide would start within the early 2030s.
Energy has been a politically charged challenge for practically 20 years in Australia, which is reliant on coal and fuel in addition to royalties from exporting these fuels to assist underpin its economic system.
This reliance on fossil fuels has traditionally made it one of many world’s worst greenhouse fuel emitters on a per capita foundation.
Australia’s fundamental opposition party in June introduced plans to construct the nation’s first nuclear energy crops as early as 2035, making certain the key events shall be divided on how Australia curbs its greenhouse fuel emissions at elections due inside a yr.
The events haven’t gone to an election with the identical carbon discount insurance policies since 2007.
“Australians have a selection between a renewable power transition that’s already underway creating jobs and driving down costs; or paying for an costly nuclear fantasy that will by no means occur,” Plibersek stated.
