Singapore is using water-based panels to boost its solar energy use four-fold to around two percent of the city's power needs by 2025
Singapore is using water-based panels to boost its solar energy use four-fold to around two percent of the city's power needs by 2025. AFP / Roslan RAHMAN

The Australian government approved the country's biggest renewable energy project in the Northern Territory, SunCable's AU$30 billion-plus Power Link, to send electricity to Singapore via subsea cables, while powering three million homes and generating 14,300 jobs.

Backed by the tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, the project aimed to build a solar farm in NT's outback, an 800 km transmission line to Australian city, Darwin, and 4,300 km of underwater cables to supply electricity to Singapore, The Guardian reported.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek described the ambitious Australia-Asia Power Link as a "massive step towards making Australia a renewable energy superpower" and "a generation-defining piece of infrastructure."

"It will be the largest solar precinct in the world and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy," she added. "It shows that the energy transition is real and it's happening right now."

SunCable Australia's managing director, Cameron Garnsworthy, said the final decision on the investment would not be made before 2027, but if approved, power supply is likely to start in the 2030s. The company aimed at transmitting 4GW of power to Darwin and 2GW to Singapore in the project's first two stages.

The announcement comes three days before the election in NT.

Highlighting the project, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it is expected to provide more than AU$20 billion in economic value to the NT, support an average of 6800 direct and indirect jobs annually during the construction with the peak work workforce rising to 14,300, News.com reported.

Plibersek quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency that the solar farm would deliver "almost six times the amount of energy a 700MW large nuclear reactor could."

She pointed out that the project will "turbocharge our research and manufacturing capacity in renewable technology. I've now ticked off over 55 renewable energy projects, which is enough to power the equivalent of almost seven million homes."

SunCable went into voluntary administration last year after the investors Cannon-Brookes and iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest had a fall out. A consortium including Cannon-Brookes's Grok Ventures and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is funding the venture now.