20 GW Sun Cable Darwin Project On Track Again Under Atlassian Founder

Australian Software billionaire and Atlassian Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has ensured the revival of the 20 GW, trans ocean Sun Cable Project, taking it out of administration by assuming full ownership.

The project, to be set up near Darwin in Australia’s sparsely populated Northern Territory, is planned with a 20 GW solar footprint, besides 40 GWh of battery storage. Plans include laying a 4300 Km long transmission line to Singapore, to supply industries on the island with renewable power generated in Australia.

Cannon-Brookes’ private investment company Grok Ventures now fully owns the Sun Cable assets, ending a dispute with Andrew Forrest over the project’s direction.

Talking about the project, Cannon Brookes iterated his belief that the green energy transition was the ‘biggest opportunity of our times’, and the technology to execute the project already existed.

The project’s initial focus is on a 900MW of solar energy to Darwin for industry in the region.

On the crucial Singapore leg of the project, Sun Cable claims it will apply for an energy import licence with the Singaporean Energy Market Authority (EMA) later this month. This will be developed in between two Darwin stages, with the second stage envisaging 4 GW of solar energy supplies for Darwin.

The company says it is conducting talks with Indonesia about access to their sea floor to lay the cable, and is looking to build a high voltage subsea cable manufacturing and testing facility. At some stage, wind energy is also in the plans for long term supply of renewable energy.

As the firm sets off again to tie-up funding and permissions, the biggest challenge will remain the subsea cable to Singapore, where costs remain an issue on viability.  Even as Singapore remains a magnet for green energy producers looking for ways to provide clean energy to the island, in the past year, many possibilities have emerged, from floating solar to higher imports from neighbours Indonesia and Malaysia.