The challenges facing Australia’s ambitious plan to power Singapore via underwater cable

Singapore is the world’s only island city-state, known for its start-ups, technology and innovation, and for being a thriving global financial hub. One thing that Singapore is not known for is renewable energy – largely due to the scarcity of land and its reliance on high rise buildings, which means space is at a premium for items like solar panels and wind turbines.

The solution is set to come from the Northern Territory in Australia, with Sun Cable unveiling an ambitious $22 billion plan to build the world’s largest solar farm and a 3750 kilometre underwater cable to export the power to Singapore and other south-east Asian nations. The project will be a 12,000 hectares, 30-gigawatt solar farm, with construction is scheduled to commence in late 2023. It has even been awarded status as a major project by the Australian Federal Government.

The project is titled the Australia–ASEAN Power Link, and has attracted plenty of attention due to its sheer ambition and scope. But how likely is it to go ahead? While much has been achieved to get this off the ground, there are still challenges facing Sun Cable in making it a reality, including:

Singapore has not agreed to purchase any power 

While Sun Cable has big plans to crack the energy market in Singapore and other rising south-east Asian economies, not one nation has signed up to purchase any power from the project at this stage.

This has not deterred Sun Cable at all, with initial plans to use the power from the plant to provide clean, green electricity to the Australian market, then push forward into supplying power to south-east Asia.

“There is an opportunity to harness abundant renewable energy resources for domestic electricity supply, therefore growing Australia’s capacity to contribute to the whole global value chain of renewable electricity,” Sun Cable chief executive David Griffin said.

“[This includes] zero-emissions manufacturing, as well as creating an intercontinental renewable electricity transmission export industry for Australia.”

The clock is ticking for investment dollars to roll in 

A project of this magnitude needs a lot of investment funding to get off the ground. Much of that will need to come from the Singaporean Government and other south-east Asian countries. With construction set to begin in just over two years, there is not a lot of time remaining for these arrangements to become concrete.

Sun Cable is actually a Singaporean company, though, which will hold a lot of sway with the Government. Having access to essentially limitless renewable energy via the underwater cable, along with handing over the billions in funding to a local company, would be the favourable option for the Singapore Government – but that does not mean that this project is a certainty.

While all of the signs are favourable and this project is moving in the right direction, it is going to require a firm commitment from Singapore and other nations to agree to purchase the power, which they will need to meet their climate and emissions targets in the future.

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