When commissioned, the mega project would export solar energy from Australia’s Outback to Singapore via a submarine transmission link.
August 26, 2021
Singapore-based Sun Cable has announced its plan to increase the world’s largest renewable energy generation and storage capacity of the USD 26 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) being developed in northern Australia.
The proposed AAPL already includes a 14 GW solar farm featuring the prefabricated, pre-wired Maverick solar PV system designed by Sydney-based manufacturer 5B. The renewable energy generation will be coupled with an estimated 33 GWh of battery storage.
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The project, being developed on a 12000-hectare site at Powell Creek in the Barkly Region, is expected to supply power to Darwin and to Singapore via a 4500-kilometer high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission network, including a 750 km overhead transmission line from the solar farm to Darwin and a 3800km HVDC submarine cable from Darwin to Singapore. The project is expected to generate enough renewable electricity to power more than 3 million homes a year.
While the capacity increase is not expected to alter the physical scale of the project, Sun Cable has changed the location of where its under-sea cable will land, shifting it from the Middle Arm in Darwin to Murrumujuk Beach at Gunn Point, about 60 kilometers northwest of the city.
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Sun Cable said the AAPL will be capable of supplying up to 20 percent of Singapore’s total electricity needs, with supply commencing in 2027. Actual construction is expected to begin in early 2024 with the first power to be supplied to Darwin in 2026.
