SunCable Gets Environmental Approval for Australian Solar Farm, Will Power Darwin and Singapore

Renewable energy company SunCable has received principal environmental approval for its flagship Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) project, the company announced via press release on Tuesday (July 16).

“This approval allows us to progress the development, commercial, and engineering activities required to advance the project to Final Investment Decision targeted in 2027,” said Cameron Garnsworthy, SunCable's managing director.

Approval came from the Northern Territory's government and the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority.

AAPowerLink is a proposed 12,000 hectare solar precinct in the Northern Territory's Barkly region. Its onshore component, known as DarwinLink, will supply up to 4 gigawatts (GW) of green electricity to the Darwin area. Meanwhile, SingaporeLink, its international branch, will supply up to 1.75 GW to Singapore through a 4,300 kilometre subsea cable.

At peak power, the solar power plant will be able to generate 17 to 20 GW from solar photovoltaic arrays. “As a comparison, Loy Yang in Victoria (A and B), which is Australia’s largest power station, has a capacity of 3.6 GW, although the power generated per GW of capacity is higher for coal-fired power than for solar PV,” states a project overview.

In terms of economic value, SunCable said AAPowerLink is anticipated to deliver more than AU$20 billion to the Northern Territory during the construction period and first 35 years of operation. A peak workforce of 14,300 is projected, with an average of 6,800 direct and indirect jobs for each year of the construction phase.

AAPowerLink has held major project status with the Northern Territory government and Commonwealth government since 2019 and 2020, respectively. It has also been assessed as "investment ready" by Infrastructure Australia.

Following this week's environmental approval, SubCable will be able to pursue continuing negotiations for Indigenous land use agreements with traditional owners across the project footprint, as well as the development of a second-generation site to enable supply of up to 4 GW to Darwin customers over two stages of development.

SunCable also plans to look into adding wind generation to the project to drive down levelised energy costs for customers. Aside from that, the company will examine ways to optimise the AAPowerLink system as a whole.

Should a final investment decision be made in 2027 as scheduled, AAPowerLink is expected to be completed and commence electricity supply in the early 2030s.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.