Battling billionaires have competition for control of world’s biggest solar project

Sun Cable, the developer of what could be the world’s biggest solar farm – and battery storage installation – has attracted “multiple” potential buyers, according to an update from the company’s voluntary administrators, less than two months after putting up the for sale sign.

FTI Consulting,  appointed in January after Sun Cable’s billionaire backers Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes clashed on the company’s business plan, and whether it should export or not, said on Wednesday it had received non-binding indicative offers from multiple parties.

The administrator says the shortlisted bidders include a range of potential buyers, including parties that are not existing Sun Cable shareholders – in other words, not only from Cannon-Brookes and/or Forrest.

“We are pleased to confirm that the Sun Cable sale process has elicited strong interest in the business,” FTI said.

“The Administrators, together with Moelis+, are now seeking to progress a shortlist of bidders through to the submission of binding proposals by end of April 2023, with completion targeted at the end of May 2023.”

The administrators have packaged up Sun Cable as a developer of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure projects, with 121 employees across Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.

The company has been able to retain the bulk of those employees thanks to an interest free $65 million loan from Cannon-Brookes private company Grok Investments, to ensure that the know-how and IP for company’s big export plans are not lost during the administration period.

The jewel in the company’s crown is the Australia-Asia Power Link, which proposes to build 20GW of solar, and up to 42GWh battery storage, along with an 900MW, 800km transmission line to Darwin, and a 4,200km sub-sea cable to provide a 1.75GW power connection to Singapore.

Cannon-Brookes backs this vision, and the plan to duplicate it in other parts of the world, but Forrest’s private company Squadron Energy has proposed dumping the link, and focusing instead on local industry and production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.

As RenewEconomy reported in January, FTI pitched Stage 1 of the AAPowerLink as “materially progressed,” having gained federal and local government support and a number of the required approvals.

FTI describes the first stage as a solar park whose output “will be transmitted 24/7 via high voltage direct current (“HVDC”) transmission to Darwin (900 MW) and HVDC submarine cables to Singapore (1.75 GW), providing reliable multi-gigawatt-scale renewable electricity.”

It’s reasonable to assume that there might be any number of potential buyers of such a project, including well established global renewable energy giants like Iberdrola and big oil companies like Total Eren that are looking to green up their development pipelines.

More to come…