Australia fast track Worlds largest solar-battery project

Australia’s federal government has announced that it will fast-track an ambitious A$22bn ($16bn) 10GW/30GWh solar/battery project that will send 24-hour renewable electricity to Singapore via a 4,500km cable.

Angus Taylor, minister for energy and emissions reduction, granted “major project status” to developer Sun Cable’s Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) project in Australia’s Northern Territory, which essentially means it will fast-track the project, with support from the Major Projects Facilitation Agency, which provides a single entry point for national approvals, as well as co-ordination with local government.

Sun Cable says the project — to be built by the end of 2027 — would consist of the world’s largest solar array, biggest battery and longest power cable, providing 3GW of dispatchable electricity — enough to provide a fifth of Singapore’s power needs. The 4,500km high-voltage direct-current cable — 3,711km of which would be under the sea — would also connect Australia to the planned 16-nation ASEAN power grid.

The AAPL project, however, has yet to win support from Singapore’s government.

The Northern Territory government gave the scheme — which would also supply power to the city of Darwin, and “eventually Indonesia” — major project status in July 2019.

Sun Cable is part-owned by two of Australia’s richest men: 40-year-old software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and billionaire philanthropist Andrew Forrest