Is SunCable’s 4,300km power link to Singapore in trouble?
New report suggests no fundraising success yet.
Is the audacious plan to transmit solar power over a 4,300km subsea cable from Australia to Singapore in trouble over financing?
On Friday, The Australian ran a report on SunCable that suggested its plan to build the world's biggest solar and battery projects is in jeopardy.
The story so far
The idea is simple. Generate electricity using solar panels built near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, Australia, then export it elsewhere.
Except that the destination is Singapore, thousands of kilometres away. Transmitting the 2GW planned will require a “generation-defining" infrastructure no one else has built.
As I wrote previously, the latest plan for the Australia-Asia PowerLink calls for two stages.
Stage 1: Build up to 10GW of solar with battery storage and connect to a renewable energy hub in Darwin 800km away.
Stage 2: Build a 4,300km high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cable from Darwin, through Indonesia, to Singapore.
A long journey
For now, the Australia-Asia PowerLink has gained various government, export, and environmental approvals.
- Route approval from Indonesia.
- Conditional approval from S'pore EMA.
- Environmental approval from Australian govt.
On the other hand, John Hartman of Squadron Energy - which dropped out of the project, had in 2023 said that the project is "not commercially viable" after technical and financial analysis.
Fundraising silence
According to The Australian, there is no concrete backing for a US$100M capital fundraising that the team is currently pursuing to fund the next phase.
I can think of possible downsides to funding this extremely ambitious project:
- A very long ROI period.
- Substantial geopolitical risk.
- Highly vulnerable to sabotage.
- Competition from upcoming SMR.
What do you think? Would the requisite financial backing materialise soon, or is the project dead in the water before it really started?
