Government green lights Australia-Asia Power Link project

Renewable infrastructure developer SunCable has received approval from the Commonwealth Government for the Australian component of the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink).

The project has secured the necessary approvals from the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Water, as well as the Northern Territory Government and NT Environment Protection Authority.

AAPowerLink covers a project footprint approximately 2,000km long from the heart of the Northern Territory, extending to the Australian and Indonesian maritime border.

The project will be developed over two stages and aims to deliver up to 6GW of green electricity to large-scale industrial customers in both Darwin and Singapore via a 4,300km subsea cable.

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SunCable Australia’s Managing Director Cameron Garnsworthy commented in a release: “SunCable is pleased to receive Commonwealth Government approval under the EPBC Act, following four years of extensive assessment and public consultation with stakeholders around Australia.”

“SunCable will now focus its efforts on the next stage of planning to advance the project towards a Final Investment Decision targeted by 2027.”

The AAPowerLink can create multiple new export industries for Australia and is expected to deliver more than AUS$20 billion in economic value to the Northern Territory during the construction period and first 35 years of operation.

To progress to the next phase of development, SunCable will:

• Continue negotiations of Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) with Traditional Owners across the project footprint in the Northern Territory;
• Engage with Singapore’s Energy Market Authority on the conditional approval application for the subsea cable interconnector component of the project; and
• Engage with the Indonesian Government on regulatory and permitting matters to prove the subsea route inclusive of knowledge and hydrographic data-sharing.

A Final Investment Decision (FID) on the project is expected in 2027 with electricity supply to commence in the early 2030s.

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com