ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Singapore conditionally approved Sun Cable’s USD24 billion (SGD31.6 billion) solar power project, which aims to import 1.75 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy from Australia’s Northern Territory by 2035. The approval was announced by Second Minister for Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng yesterday.
The project, developed by the Australian solar firm, will involve the construction of a massive solar farm near Darwin, with electricity transmitted to Singapore through 4,300 kilometres of subsea cables.
Once operational, the imported solar energy will meet approximately nine per cent of Singapore’s electricity needs.
During the Asia Clean Energy Summit at the Singapore International Energy Week, Dr Tan highlighted the scale of the project and the challenges posed by the vast distance between Australia and Singapore. He also reiterated the government’s commitment to supporting clean energy import projects, even if they require longer timelines and extend beyond 2035.
Sun Cable’s project has been in the works since 2019, with plans for construction to commence by mid-2023. Initial operations were targeted to begin in early 2026, with full completion expected by late 2027.
However, in January 2023, the project collapsed when Sun Cable entered voluntary administration due to a funding dispute between Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and tech firm Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. By May that year, a consortium led by Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures acquired the company, finalising the takeover in September 2023. The Australian government gave the project the go-ahead in August 2024, allowing the electricity to be exported to Singapore.
The development came after Singapore raised its clean electricity import target to 6GW in September, which will account for around 30 per cent of electricity demand by 2035. Aside from the Sun Cable project, 5.6GW of import deals have been signed with Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam thus far.
Dr Tan said the Energy Market Authority (EMA) recognises Sun Cable’s project to be “technically and commercially viable” based on the proposal and information submitted thus far.
For the project to advance to further development stages and receive regulatory approval, Sun Cable will need to offer a “commercially viable price acceptable to customers”, said EMA.
In an interview with reporters, Sun Cable chief executive Mitesh Patel said that between now and 2035, the company is seeking to sign long-term purchase agreements with corporate buyers in Singapore, which can range from big tech companies to pharmaceutical firms, for its clean electricity.
During the first phase – in addition to the electricity exported to Singapore – the project will supply a total of 800 to 900 megawatts of solar power to industrial estates in Darwin. This would require its solar plant to have a capacity of between 17GW and 20GW-peak, making it one of the “largest renewable energy installations globally”.
Its battery storage system will have a capacity of between 37 and 42 GW-hours to level energy availability, given that sunlight is not available round the clock.
