Singapore’s regulator blesses ‘flagship’ power link two months after Australian approval

Singapore’s electricity regulator the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has given conditional approval for a project that will harness and store renewable energy from Australia and transmit it to Singapore via a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system, two months after the Australian Government gave the green light for their component of the project.

The Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) includes the development of what is said to be the world’s biggest integrated renewable energy and battery storage facility in the Barkly region of Australia’s Northern Territory which could over multiple stages have a capacity of up to 6 GW of renewable energy to Darwin and Singapore.

The infrastructure includes a 4,300-kilometer HVDC subsea cable, solar generation and utility-scale storage site at Powell Creek with a generation capacity of up to 10 GW, a circa 800-kilometer HVDC overhead transmission line running from the solar precinct to Murrumujuk, north-east of Darwin, and the Darwin converter site.

Project developer SunCable reported on August 21 that it had received approval from the Commonwealth Government for the Australian component of AAPowerLink.

The company has now reported that it had secured conditional approval from EMA to import green electricity, representing a critical step toward the delivery of 1.75 GW of green energy to Singapore, in addition to 4 GW that will remain in Darwin to power the green industry.

The approval follows a comprehensive assessment by the EMA which found AAPowerLink to be technically and commercially viable.

“By demonstrating the viability of our project, we can continue development activities, further grow our relationship with Indonesia, and progress commercial discussions with industrial customers in Singapore,” SunCable said.

AAPowerLink is expected to deliver more than AU$20 billion (around US$13.4 billion) in economic value to the Northern Territory during the construction period and the first 35 years of operation, as well as support an average of 6,800 direct and indirect jobs for each year of construction, with a peak workforce of 14,300. Electricity supply is expected to commence in the early 2030s.