Solar energy
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Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA) has greenlit an AU$20 billion project by Australia's Sun Cable, which will help transmit solar-generated electricity to the former country from Northern Australia.

The ambitious Australia-Asia PowerLink project aims to generate six gigawatts of electricity from a huge solar farm in Northern Australia and transmit one-third of that power to Singapore via an undersea cable spanning 4,300 km, Reuters reported.

The project, backed by Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, is seeking AU$20 billion ($13 billion) in financial gains.

The Australia-Asia PowerLink project by Sun Cable has the potential to become the biggest solar farm and battery storage system in the world. With the help of this innovative project, Singapore will import about 9% of its overall electricity needs from renewable sources.

"The conditional approval awarded to Sun Cable recognises that the project can be technically and commercially viable based on the proposal and information submitted thus far," Channel News Asia quoted EMA as saying.

Initially, following a flood of concerns over the project's viability, a leadership transition had taken place in the company. Atlassian billionaire Cannon-Brookes assumed the sole authority of the project, following an argument about the project's prospects with co-owner Andrew Forrest, the wealthy founder of Fortescue Metals.

"Today's announcement is a vote of confidence in the commercial and technical viability of our project," Sun Cable International Interim CEO Mitesh Patel said in a statement.

SunCable has obtained permission to move on with the next stage of the PowerLink project between Australia and Asia, which includes fortifying its alliance with Indonesia. Throughout the lifetime of the project, the business intends to invest AU$3.75 billion ($2.5 billion) in Indonesia because the underwater cable would pass through Indonesian waters, Reuters reported.