$20bn solar farm project means brighter days ahead for the NT
WHEN the NT News revealed plans last June to run a 3000km cable to export energy to Asia the news was greeted with more than its fair share of scepticism from elsewhere in the nation
Opinion
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WHEN the NT News revealed plans last June to run a 3000km cable to export energy to Asia the news was greeted with more than its fair share of scepticism from elsewhere in the nation.
The $20 billion solar farm project planned for the Barkly would generate 1000 jobs in Darwin and another 1000 in Adelaide during the construction phase and a further 300 on-site solar farm jobs in the Northern Territory.
It’s 15,000 hectares of photovoltaic panels, which is roughly equivalent to 7500 football fields, give or take a field.
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The project proponents are Singapore-based business Sun Cable, which has its sights set on supplying approximately a third of Singapore’s electricity through the cable sourcing energy from the desert solar farm near Tennant Creek.
It’s ambitious, so ambitious it has attracted the confirmed support of billionaire Aussie tech boss Mike Cannon-Brookes. His estimated worth is $13.5 billion.
His announcement at the UN Climate Change forum that he is going to invest in the project makes the project look very real.
And while there is still a long way to go in making it real, the project would be one of the most exciting this nation has seen since the construction of the Darwin to Alice rail link completing the north to south connection.
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The project would eventually produce about $800 million a year in income for the NT.
This and an emerging onshore gas industry truly will make the Territory’s long-term future bright.
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