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Australia backs ground-breaking

Australian-ASEAN Power Link

AUSTRALIA THE Australian government has lent its support technical assistance from Canberra and state
to Sun Cable’s proposed Australian-ASEAN governments during the approvals process.
Power Link (AAPL), which aims to send elec- The project had previously received Major
tricity from the world’s largest battery and solar Project Status from the Northern Territory Gov-
farm to Asian markets. ernment in June 2019.
The AUS22bn ($16bn) subsea cable is Sun Cable, which is backed by Austral-
intended to connect the battery and solar pro- ian industrialists Mike Cannon-Brookes and
ject to be built in the Barkly region near Tennant Andrew Forrest, is keen to begin work, and aims
Creek, Northern Territory, to Singapore and to start marine surveying in August. It intends
Indonesia via a 3,700-km link, making it the to begin commercial operations at the Tennant
world’s longest such project. Creek solar project and through the AAPL from
“This project draws on Australia’s world-class 2027.
solar technology and our high-tech manufactur- Sun Cable says that the project will com-
ing capability to export renewable energy on an bine the world’s largest battery at 20-30GWh,
unprecedented scale,” Australian Industry, Sci- the world’s largest solar farm at 10GW and the
ence and Technology Minister Karen Andrews 4,500-km HVDC transmission cable.
said. The company intends to provide dispatchable
“Not only will this power link make Aus- renewable electricity to the Northern Territory
tralia a world leader; it will also create significant and to supply up to 20% of Singapore’s electricity
economic and employment opportunities here demand, worth AUD$2bn ($1.44bn) per year.
at home with about AUD8bn ($5.7bn) of the Singapore currently relies on imported fossil
AUD22bn ($16bn) investment to be injected fuels, mainly LNG, for its power. Power demand
directly into Australia,” she added. stands at 6,500-7,000MW, while the country has
However, the Singapore government has considerable overcapacity at 10,000MW thanks
so far been less enthusiastic about the project, to the construction of gas-fired thermal power
and has not lent any official support; nor has plants (TPPs) in the last 10 years.
Indonesia’s. The country has opened up its power mar-
“Singapore is exploring ways to tap on ket to competition steadily since 2001, and in
regional power grids for cleaner energy and to November 2018 implemented the Open Elec-
overcome land constraints,” an authority on tricity Market (OME), which has allowed retail
energy markets told Bloomberg. consumers to choose their supplier.
“However, we will need to balance this with Sun Cable could be targeting such suppliers
potentially higher electricity costs and higher to support the project, which would provide a
energy security risk,” the authority said. green alternative to gas-generated electricity.
Sun Cable has been holding talks with a num- The wider Southeast Asian region beyond
ber of potential buyers of the power, such as Sin- Singapore needs to invest $210bn per year until
gaporean retailers. 2030 in order to fund the energy transition
Sun Cable said in 2019 that many electricity and to create a sustainable economy, the Asian
retailers, such as iSwitch, had shown “definite Development Bank (ADB) and the Singaporean
interest” in the project. government-backed Infrastructure Asia Fund
The Australian government’s Major Pro- said in October 2019.™
ject Status means that Sun Cable will receive

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2020