Winning Major Project Status from the Northern Territory government is a significant step forward for a plan to build the world’s largest solar plant in the Australia desert, and use it to help power Singapore.
The chief minister of Australia’s Northern Territory has given major project status to an ambitious plan to transmit three gigawatts (GW) of solar power to Singapore by subsea cable.
Michael Gunner said Singaporean firm Sun Cable’s proposed $20 billion solar farm near Tennant Creek would be the world’s largest, generating 10GW of power for both Darwin and Singapore.
Sun Cable plans to provide 3.0GW of power via 3800 km of high voltage direct current transmission cable to Singapore, providing a fifth of the island nation’s electricity, according to the company’s website.
The Northern Territory, a 1.4 million sq/km expanse of outback extending from the centre of Australia to its northern coastline, awards major status to projects it sees as significant to the jurisdiction, helping companies with co-ordinated government approvals and a dedicated case manager.
Reuters Newsagency reports Mr Gunner said in an emailed statement that the government would negotiate a project development agreement with Sun Cable.
“Major Project Status for Sun Cable is an important step towards making this vision a reality,” he added.
The project has been promoted by a group of Australian investors and as previously reported by EcoNews Sun Cable’s chief executive, David Griffin, is bullish about the possibility of his company helping power Singapore from the outback in less than a decade.
He said the project would use prefabricated solar cells to capture “one of the best solar radiance reserves on the planet”.
However, he said the major transformation that made the farm possible was the advent of a high-voltage, direct current submarine cable, which he described as the “greatest unsung technology development”.
Reuters reports dozens of international developers are looking to Australia to build wind and solar farms, spurred by abundant wind and sun, falling turbine and panel costs, and corporate demand for contracts to hedge against rising power tariffs.
This comes despite grid constraints and extra scrutiny from network operators to make sure new projects do not spark blackouts like those suffered two years ago.
Reuters reports those expanding in Australia include France’s Neoen, its compatriot Total-Eren, India’s Adani, United States utility AES Corporation and Germany’s Sonnen are expanding in Australia.
A total of 14.7GW of large-scale solar and wind projects worth $20 billion were under construction or reached financial close last year, more than double 2017’s record, according to the Clean Energy Council, an advocacy group that promotes renewable energy.
EcoNews is an independent publication that relies on contributions from its readers.
WE’RE BUILDING A PLATFORM WITH A CLEAR FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL GOOD. CONTRIBUTE AND TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT.
