The Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore has approved the underwater cable project to transmit electricity from solar farms in Australia to Singapore. This project, officially known as the Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink), is being executed by the Australian company SunCable. The concept behind this initiative involves utilizing the vast northern region of Australia to establish large-scale solar farms with a maximum planned production capacity of 20 GW. The electricity will then be transmitted over a distance of 4,300 kilometers to alleviate Singapore’s shortage of domestic power sources.
Given the immense scale of the AAPowerLink project, it is estimated to necessitate a total investment of up to 30 billion Australian dollars (approximately 6.7 trillion baht). In practice, this undertaking is not without challenges, as Sun Power, the parent company of SunCable, previously faced bankruptcy in 2023 before reviving its operations. The current owner of SunCable, Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of Atlassian, has no direct involvement with the company.
EMA’s approval of the project comes with conditions, allowing SunCable to import 1.75 GW of electricity from Australia. EMA deems the project technically and commercially feasible, but SunCable must fulfill additional requirements, such as obtaining permission from countries the cable will pass through, like Indonesia, before receiving full approval from EMA.
SunCable aims to commence electricity sales from Australia by the year 2035.
Source: EMA, Sun Cable, Reuters, New Atlas
TLDR: The Energy Market Authority of Singapore has greenlit the Australia-Asia PowerLink project, which involves transmitting electricity from solar farms in Australia to Singapore through an underwater cable. SunCable is spearheading this initiative, set to address Singapore’s power supply limitations by utilizing solar energy from Australia.
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