Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Sun Cable won the Australian government’s approval to build the first phase of the $30 billion undersea cable that will deliver solar-generated electricity from Darwin to Singapore.
Sun Cable—the Sydney-based renewable energy company owned by tech billionaire and activist investor Mike Cannon-Brookes—won the Australian government’s approval to build the first phase of the AUD$30 billion undersea cable that will deliver solar-generated electricity from Darwin to Singapore.
Under the project, Sun Cable is building the 4,300 kilometer Australia-Asia Power Link that aims to deliver more than 20 gigawatts of electricity by 2030 from a solar farm in northern Australia to customers in Darwin and Singapore.
Both facilities are among the biggest in the world.
“This massive project is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure,” Tanya Plibersek, minister for environment and water said in a statement.
“It will be the largest solar precinct in the world and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy.”
Tanya Plibersek
“Not only will this project help turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower, it will be a huge boost for the Northern Territory economy
“It will mean more 14,300 new jobs in northern Australia, and it will turbocharge our research and manufacturing capacity in renewable technology.”
Sun Cable still needs approvals from indigenous groups in Australia, as well as from the governments of Singapore and Indonesia.
“Sun Cable will now focus its efforts on the next stage of planning to advance the project towards a final investment decision targeted by 2027,” Cameron Garnsworthy, managing director of Sun Cable said in a separate statement.
Cannon-Brookes—the co-founder and co-CEO of the Sydney-based collaboration software company Atlassian—has a net worth of $10.7 billion according to Forbes’ real-time data. He has been increasing his investments in renewable energy and funding philanthropic efforts to combat climate change.
Apart from his stake in Sun Cable, Cannon-Brookes also has an interest in Australian utility company AGL Energy.
