The Australia-Asia PowerLink explained
It’s the world’s biggest renewable energy project. And, as dubbed by The Washington Post, it “may be one of the most ambitious renewable energy projects underway anywhere.”
As electrical experts we’d have to agree - the AAPowerLink is one beast of a project, and it just may completely change the face of Australia’s export and electrical industry forever.
To put it simply, the PowerLink will collect energy from solar panels in the Northern Territory, then store and supply this dispatchable renewable energy to Darwin and Singapore via an underwater cable.
To do this, the project will build:
The world’s largest solar farm
The world’s largest battery
A 5,000 km high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system between Darwin and Singapore
Sun Cable, the world’s largest solar energy infrastructure network, are fronting the $30+ billion project, and have announced the team of world-leading experts to achieve it.
How will the Australia-Asia PowerLink work?
The solar farm, which will be situated in the middle of Northern Territory to soak up the most of Australia’s rays, is projected to be 12,000 hectares.
That’s 22,424 football fields worth of solar arrays. In other words, a whole heap of energy being collected and stored.
A rendering of the solar farm will look like once built. Source: Sun Cable
From there, the energy collected from the solar farm will be stored in the world’s largest battery (36-42 GWh).
After that, this energy will be distributed to both Darwin and Singapore, which is particularly complicated.
Why’s that you ask?
Well, separating the two countries are thousands of kilometres of ocean, the Indonesian archipelago, and the 10,000-foot-deep Sunda Trench.
In other words, this project is no easy feat - in fact, the specifications are so complex that they’ve asked humans to take a backseat on this one, relying on artificial intelligence to design the transmission cable system. (No room for human error on this pricey project).
Why does Singapore need our power?
It’s the age old tale of supply/demand:
There’s a demand in the Asia-Pacific region for affordable, large-scale, dispatchable renewable electricity, particularly in Singapore.
At the moment, the country relies on gas for 95% of its electricity generation. Singapore is a largely cloudy country, and therefore cannot generate the same amount of renewable energy as we can.
Accessing low cost, reliable electricity over the medium to long term is critical to the country’s long term planning and economic competitiveness. And that’s where the PowerLink can help - it’s projected to supply up to 15% of Singapore’s electricity needs.
Why is Australia building the Australia-Asia PowerLink?
It begs the question - if this project is so complex and expensive, why are we building it?
Eventually, the project’s backers believe that Australia can supply cheap solar power to a pan-Asian electricity grid - exporting solar energy to other countries within the region, which will (desirably) lift living standards for millions of people and reduce the region’s dependence on coal and natural gas, which are big contributors to global warming.
Investors of the project also believe that solar power could become the most important export in Australian history, surpassing natural gas, coal and wheat.
“Sun Cable’s development of the AAPowerLink project will position Australia, Singapore and other Asian nations as regional renewable energy hubs and create significant economic and sustainable energy opportunities for decades,” the company said.
The project will begin construction in 2023, with a scheduled completion date of 2027, so there's a bit of time before solar becomes the forefront of Australia’s economy.
As always, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled and our customers updated on the latest developments.
And in the meantime, if you need electrical, mechanical, or commercial fit out services, you know who to call.