The world’s largest renewable energy transmission project has just received important approval from the Northern Territory government of Australia.
Illustration of the Australia – Asia Power Link project, expected to be operational in the early 2030s. (Photo: SunCable).
Australia – Asia Power Link, the largest renewable energy transmission project in the world, is managed by the Australian company SunCable. It aims to transmit solar power from Australia to Singapore through a 4,300 km long cable. The Northern Territory offers vast land and abundant sunshine, while Singapore is more densely populated and is seeking to transition to renewable energy. These two locations will soon be connected through this new project.
The project has recently received environmental approval from the Northern Territory government for the construction of a large-scale solar farm at Powell Creek, with a clean energy generation capacity of up to 10 GW, New Atlas reported on July 18. This also paves the way for the construction of an 800 km overhead transmission line between the solar farm and the Murrumujuk area near Darwin.
The Australia – Asia Power Link project will transmit electricity from the solar farm in the Northern Territory to Singapore through an underwater cable system. (Photo: SunCable).
A facility will convert high-voltage direct current to high-voltage alternating current to supply Darwin, aiming to provide approximately 4 GW of green electricity 24/7 for industrial customers. This facility will be developed in two phases, with the first phase providing 900 MW and the second phase adding 3 GW. The project also aims to transmit an additional 1.75 GW of electricity through 4,300 km of submarine cables to Singapore.
SunCable still faces several significant hurdles to overcome before it can truly implement the Australia – Asia Power Link project, including land use negotiations with landowners, agreements with regulatory agencies along the cable route, and securing funding. If everything goes smoothly, clean power transmission is expected to begin in the early 2030s. According to the official project website, the ultimate goal is to produce up to 20 GW of solar power and store electricity in a 36 – 42 GWh battery system on-site.
