Opinion | Sun Cable collapse a setback but not the end of Australia’s renewable energy export prospects

Solar power project aimed to link Australia and Singapore through over 4,000km long undersea cable, to provide up to 15 per cent of city state’s electricity by 2030

Developments show Australia still can attract enterprising and ambitious developers to exploit natural resources in a discovery process likely to benefit everyone

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A solar farm in Australia. Sun Cable announced this week it had entered voluntary administration following “the absence of alignment” with shareholders. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:00am, 17 Jan 2023Updated: 5:34am, 17 Jan 2023

Sun Cable – considered to be the world’s biggest renewable energy export project – announced this week it had entered voluntary administration following “the absence of alignment” with shareholders.

Sun Cable is expected to cost over A$30 billion (US$21 billion). It proposes to build an enormous, 12,000-hectare (30,000-acre) solar farm in the Northern Territory, add an enormous (40 gigawatt hour) battery for electricity storage, then connect Australia to Singapore via Darwin through an undersea cable over 4,000km long. This would be by far the world’s longest electricity cable if it existed today.

It would see Darwin access 800 megawatts of additional electricity and Sun Cable could supply “up to” 15 per cent of Singapore’s electricity by 2030. To put this into context, Singapore’s annual electricity consumption is about one quarter of Australia’s.

While this prominent and well-funded project has gone into voluntary administration, those enthused about rapid decarbonisation and Australia’s renewable energy export potential need not despair. These events are part of the usual discovery processes.

A port terminal in Singapore. The Sun Cable project aimed to supply “up to” 15 per cent of Singapore’s electricity by 2030. File photo: Reuters

What Sun Cable promises

Sun Cable offers an enticing possibility of putting Australia’s land, and the rays of sunshine that fall on it, to use in displacing gas for electricity production in a distant land. Singapore is keen to procure renewable electricity, and has limited ability to produce that electricity itself.