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Sun Cable to invest $2.5b for subsea line
The power line, which passes through Indonesia, connects Singapore to the world's largest solar farm in Australia.
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nergy company Sun Cable is planning to invest US$2.5 billion in Indonesia as part of its plan to develop a passing 5,000 kilometer subsea power line that links Singapore to Australia.
The project, called the Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink), will connect customers in Singapore to a 17- to 20-gigawatt solar farm – the biggest in the world – in Australia. The farm will also have an energy storage system with a capacity of 36 to 42 GW hours.
The AAPowerLink project will not supply electricity to consumers in Indonesia. The investment will mostly go to procuring equipment and services, as well as to operational and maintenance costs.
"We are already engaging numerous Indonesian firms to assist with developing the project," Sun Cable chief executive officer David Griffin said during an online press conference on Thursday. "We are looking at transforming supplies, switchgear supplies, land cables, etc."
“During the operational phase, we are going to establish a marine repair base in Indonesia that will run the largest cable vessels in the world and a lot of supporting ships and technology to ensure that the system operates at an optimal level.”
Sun Cable is an Australian-Singaporean company backed by billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest.
The energy company has received the recommendation for the route through Indonesian waters and the permit to perform subsea surveys from the Indonesian government. The company is also expecting to have all the required environmental approvals by early 2023. The company plans to start construction in 2024, and operate commercially in 2028.
Read also: World’s largest floating solar park to be built in Batam
Griffin said the project in Indonesia was estimated to create 7,500 jobs in total, including hundreds of direct jobs.
To better understand Indonesia’s marine environment, Sun Cable has inked a memorandum of understanding with Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in West Java and the November 10 Institute of Technology (ITS) in East Java.
“Sun Cable’s commitment in transferring knowledge to support the development of renewable energy with IPB and ITS, as well as scholarship support, will spur innovation in the renewable energy sector in the future,” Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said.
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) analyst Elrika Hamdi said the partnership with universities like ITS would involve only a network survey or a topography study in regions where the cable would pass through. The manufacturing for the solar system takes place in Australia.
“I don’t think there will be any transfer of technology,” Elrika told The Jakarta Post in a text message.
