Photo: Theo Politis / DFAT
Australian renewable energy provider SunCable has been given conditional approval to export power to Singapore.
The Singapore Energy Market Authority decided on Tuesday (October 22) that Suncable’s Australia-Asia (AA) PowerLink project was technically and commercially viable.
SunCable interim CEO Mitesh Patel welcomed the decision.
“Obtaining conditional approval means SunCable can move forward with the next phase of development and commercial activities and strengthening our partnership with Indonesia,” he says.
“We will also progress commercial discussions with industrial customers in Singapore and engagement with the Northern Territory Government and the traditional owners of the project site.”
Mr Patel says they want to supply up to 1.75GW (15 per cent) of Singapore’s electricity needs and to improve the resilience of the island country’s energy grid.
This 1.75GW is in addition to 4GW staying in Australia to power future green industries in Darwin.
SunCable says it will offer a firm 24/7 load sourced from solar and wind energy, backed by storage, to meet Singapore’s daily renewable energy demand.
The energy will be generated in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. The company has spent more than $250 million on the project in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.
“Receiving conditional approval provides increased confidence in the concept of developing cross-border electricity trade, and establishing a new export industry for Australia,” Patel says.
“High voltage long-distance subsea cables are critical to the global energy transition and solve for the transmission of green electrons within and between countries.”
He says electricity demand in the Asia-Pacific is set to increase by 70 per cent by 2040 and more than double by 2050.
“SunCable has identified the opportunity for Australia to play a key role in meeting this demand by building landmark projects that use a High Voltage Direct Current subsea cable to connect high-yield renewable energy generation in the Northern Territory to major cities throughout the region,” he says.
Today’s approval builds on a series of recent project milestones reached by SunCable. In August, AAPowerLink received its principal Commonwealth environmental approval, which is key to the company’s next phase of development.
The project will create thousands of jobs and an estimated $20 billion for the Northern Territory during construction and operation.
SunCable will also continue development activities in Indonesia and Singapore; it will spend US$2.5 billion directly in Indonesia over the project’s lifespan and possibly create up to 7500 jobs across sectors like manufacturing, construction, marine, maintenance, and energy.
