“World changing:” Cannon-Brookes lays out new vision for planet’s biggest solar array

Software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has formally taken ownership of the massive Sun Cable project, and laid out a new vision for the world’s biggest solar plant that includes delivering massive amounts of solar into Darwin to support green industry.

Cannon-Brookes’ private investment company Grok Ventures now fully owns the Sun Cable assets, after buying it out of administration following a dispute with Andrew Forrest over the future direction of the massive project, which includes 20GW of large scale solar and up to 40GWh of battery storage.

The scale of the $40 billion project remains the same, with Sun Cable looking to provide huge amounts of green energy into both Singapore – via a 4,300kms sub sea cable – and into Darwin, where it hopes to support a massive green energy precinct.

Cannon-Brookes says Australia can move beyond coal and become a renewable energy superpower.

“Some people might think (the project) is too ambitious,” he told reporters in a conference call. “We don’t believe it is. Frankly, the technology exists to make this happen.”

He said in an earlier statement that the green energy transition remains the “greatest economic opportunity of our time” and will create more local jobs and support our green manufacturing and renewable energy industries.

“It’s set to deliver huge volumes of green energy to Darwin – powering a burgeoning green industry opportunity in the NT (Northern Territory).”

Cannon-Brookes says the Sun Cable project has been “re-arranged” into several pieces.

The initial focus will be on delivering 900MW of “competitively priced firmed renewables” into Darwin by 2030 to support customer looking for zero emissions electricity, including in the Middle Arm industrial precinct. Sun Cable says it has received expressions of interest for six times that amount of renewables.

On the basis of that, it says its total vision – after the Singapore link – is for up to 4GW of “firmed renewables” into Darwin. “This supply forms a key component of Australia’s ambition of becoming a renewable energy superpower.”

The Singapore component – delivering 1.75GW via the sub-sea cable – is still very much alive, and Sun Cable expects to apply for an energy import licence with the Singaporean Energy Market Authority (EMA) later this month. This will be developed in between the two Darwin stages.

The company says it is conducting talks with Indonesia about access to their sea floor to lay the cable, and is looking to build a high voltage subsea cable manufacturing and testing facility – hopefully in Australia – which it says will deliver up to 1,000 construction jobs and more than 400 full time manufacturing roles over the long term.

“There’s huge upside for both Australia and our neighbours, Singapore and Indonesia. We look forward to working with our partners across Asia to drive this,” Cannon-Brookes said.

The Australian component will be delivered by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, the Australian founded investment company with massive renewable energy interests across the world.

Grok expects funding for the Sun Cable project to come from institutional investors and financiers.

“Grok has always said we are willing to work alongside constructive partners who share our vision and help the AAPowerLink achieve its goals,” said Jeremy Kwong-Law, the CEO of Grok Ventures.

“Once all milestones are reached and we reach financial investment decision (FID), we have a high conviction that large institutional investors and debt providers will fund the capital expenditure to construct the project.”

The project includes up to 20GW of solar at the Powell Creek site near Elliott in the Northern Territory, and includes an 800km high voltage cable to Darwin, and converter stations in Darwin and Singapore, as well as the sub-sea cable.

Cannon-Brookes said the battery storage would be spread across the generation site, as well as close to the converter stations in Darwin and Singapore to provide further “buffering”.

He confirmed that the project partners are looking at wind energy, but says the majority of the power to be delivered will be sourced from solar, “given the location and the resource we have.”

The company said Mark Branson will continue as chief development officer of SunCable Australia and Mitesh Patel has been appointed as the interim CEO and chief operating officer of SunCable International.

FTI Consulting, the voluntary administrators, said the proceeds from the transaction are expected to allow unsecured creditors of the Company to be paid in full.  The price for the purchase was not revealed.