Conditional Approval is granted when EMA assesses that a proposed electricity import project is technically and commercially viable.
AAPowerLink, set to be the world's largest solar farm and battery storage infrastructure, will transmit renewable energy from northern Australia, one of the world's most reliably sunny places, to Singapore 24/7 via a 4,300km-long submarine power cable laid through Indonesian waters .
The project will supply 1.75GW of electricity after 2035, representing approximately 9 per cent of Singapore's total electricity needs.
Mitesh Patel, Interim CEO of SunCable International, welcomed the announcement and thanked EMA and the Singapore Government for their support.
“Conditional Approval is a vote of confidence from the Singapore Government in SunCable and our role as a key partner to support the nation's green transition,” he said.
“We are confident we will meet the next stage of requirements for Conditional License, which will include ongoing design refinements to continue our compliance with EMA's technical requirements, while delivering affordably priced electricity to our customers,” he said.
“We are pleased that the AAPowerLink will help to diversify Singapore's renewable energy supply and support its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
“We firmly believe that high voltage long-distance subsea cables are critical to the global energy transition, connecting high-yield renewable energy areas like Northern Australia to high-demand centers such as Singapore.
“We continue to work closely with the Governments of Australia, Indonesia and Singapore on the project's development and requisite approvals of relevant jurisdictions to support the Asia-Pacific's renewable energy goals.”
The announcement supports the aspirations of the Singapore-Australia Green Economy Agreement that was announced in October 2022, and the Cross Border Electricity Trade framework principle jointly announced at the ASEAN-Australia Summit in March 2024.
With over $170 million invested in the project across Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia to date, the Conditional Approval allows SunCable to advance to the next development phase, focusing on comprehensive project planning, progressing commercial discussions with industrial customers in Singapore, enhancing engineering designs, and continuing to conduct subsea surveys in Indonesia.
