Singapore-based Sun Cable is looking to add to the Asia-Pacific electricity grid with its Australia-Asia PowerLink, subsea power cables that will funnel about 2GW of clean, solar energy across Indonesian waters from Australia’s Northern Territory to Singapore.
The A$35bn project will be the world’s largest solar energy infrastructure network and a huge step in the region’s renewable energy transition. By the time the link reaches full capacity in 2029, ‘the green power corridor’ could reduce Singapore’s emissions by 6mn tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
Investment is promising
In early 2022, the project completed a series B capital raise of A$210mn. “The capital raise was 100 per cent funded by our existing shareholders, all taking up their entitlement,” says David Griffin, founder and CEO of Sun Cable. “So that was a really positive outcome and showed great confidence from our existing shareholders in how the Australia-Asia PowerLink is progressing.”
A final investment decision is slated for 2024, and construction will start across Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. Sun Cable’s solar generation site in the Northern Territory will also house the world’s largest battery energy storage system. It can provide the city of Darwin with 800MW of power and transmit supply to Singapore along high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables. At more than 4,000km, the cables will be the longest of their kind in the world.
“With a project of this nature, there are obviously myriad challenges,” says Sun Cable CEO David Griffin. “Think of the project as three technology groups: solar, storage and transmission. All three are being carried out at massive scale, which means that we are motivated to find every efficiency gain we can by optimising the design of the system and its components.”
“We do see there is huge opportunity to improve the delivery of solar and storage projects in Asia, and that being at scale is what triggers this opportunity.”
Artificial intelligence has proved invaluable in the design phase, particularly in the complex specifications of the transmission cable system. Today, the world’s longest subsea power cable is the 720km North Sea Link; Sun Cable’s will be nearly six times as long and will pass through the Singapore Strait — one of the world’s busiest waterways.
New networks are encouraging cross-border trade
Sun Cable wants to do more with the Australia-Asia PowerLink than break records. The company hopes that it will mark the start of a new renewables export industry in Australia, while positioning Singapore and other Asian countries as renewable energy centres for Southeast Asia.
The company has partnered with several corporate and research institutes to establish the Asia Green Grid Network (AGGN) to support an interconnected renewable power grid in Asia. By combining its expertise, the consortium hopes to boost collaboration, innovation and education across the region, to accelerate cross-border renewable energy transmission.
“An interconnected green grid in Asia can flourish with support and collaboration between research, corporate and government institutions,” says Dr Fraser Thompson, Sun Cable founder and chief strategy officer. “Sun Cable is spearheading this to help educate, coordinate, and innovate, including with our R&D investments in key areas like storage and system optimisation.”
The AGGN’s mission builds on recent Sun Cable research that estimates that with greater interconnectivity, cross-border electricity trade in Asia could amount to between 2,150TWh and 3,225TWh by 2040.
“Our vision for the Asia Green Grid Network is to drive the innovation that’s needed for a connected electricity grid across Asia, tackling issues ranging from transmission through to storage,” says Dr Thompson.
PwC Australia is a key member of the Integrated Project Delivery Team for Sun Cable project, delivering equity and debt advisory, legal, procurement, contract administration and project assurance services.
