Australia greenlights US$13.5b project to ship solar energy to Singapore

The solar energy will be transported via a 4,300km subsea cable.

Australia has approved SunCable's flagship Australia-Asia power link project (AAPowerLink), which will ship energy from a giant solar farm in Northern Australia to Singapore through a 4,300km subsea cable.

The $17.6b (US$13.5b) project will deliver up to 6GW of 24/7 green electricity to large-scale industrial customers in both Darwin and Singapore.

The project was assessed and approved by Australia’s Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Water under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).

This follows the environmental approval granted by the Northern Territory Government and NT Environment Protection Authority last month.

SunCable will engage with Singapore’s Energy Market Authority on the conditional approval application for the subsea cable interconnector component of the project.

A final investment decision on the project is expected in 2027, with electricity supply to begin in the early 2030s.