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NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — An ambitious plan to build a massive solar farm in Australia’s remote north and transmit the energy to Singapore via an undersea cable moved a step closer to completion when the government on Wednesday approved environmental approval for the A$30 billion ($19 billion) project.
Sun Cable Australia plans to build a 12,400-hectare solar farm and transmit the power via an 800-kilometer (497-mile) overhead transmission line to the northern Australian city of Darwin, and then via a 4,300-kilometer (2,672-mile) undersea cable to large industrial customers in Singapore.
The Australia-Asia Powerlink project aims to deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity per year, which Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said would “help Australia become a renewable energy superpower” and boost its economy.
“This massive project is generation-defining infrastructure. It will be the world’s largest solar zone and mark Australia’s place as a world leader in green energy,” Plibersek said in a written statement on Wednesday.
The project was initially backed by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. The plans were highlighted by then Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during state visits as part of a 2022 “green economy” deal.
The project collapsed in January 2023 when Sun Cable went into voluntary administration due to a funding dispute between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes. In May of that year, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures acquired the company, completing the acquisition in September 2023.
SunCable Australia managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said he was pleased to have cleared a major regulatory hurdle and “will now focus on the next phase of planning to move the project towards a final investment decision in 2027.”
The company said electricity supply would begin in the early 2030s.
Energy has been a political focal point for nearly two decades in Australia, whose economy relies heavily on coal and natural gas and the revenue from exporting those fuels.
Historically, its reliance on fossil fuels has made it one of the world’s highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters.
Australia’s main opposition party announced plans in June to build the country’s first nuclear power plant as early as 2035, meaning the main parties will be divided over how Australia should curb greenhouse gas emissions in an election due within a year.
The political parties have not put the same carbon reduction policies on the table at an election since 2007.
“Australians face two choices: either make the renewable energy transition, creating jobs and bringing down prices, or pay for an expensive nuclear fantasy that may never come to fruition,” Plibersek said.
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