Mike Cannon-Brookes vows to deliver on Sun Cable vision of renewable energy from Darwin to Singapore

Sun Cable aims to build one of the world’s largest solar farms, and then the world’s longest undersea cable to transport clean energy from Darwin to Singapore.

Mike Cannon-Brookes has pledged to deliver the $30bn mega project that Andrew Forrest described as unviable, with the tech billionaire saying his team can deliver the complex green energy behemoth.

The comments came as Mr Cannon-Brookes moved to accelerate development of the Sun Cable project, which was stymied when it was placed into voluntary administration following a disagreement between then shareholders Mr Cannon-Brookes and fellow billionaire Mr Forrest.

Both billionaires had sought full ownership of Sun Cable, though Mr Cannon-Brookes eventually won out after partnering with Quinbrook to oversee Sun Cable Australia, the domestic part of the renewable energy project.

The deal reached a financial close on Thursday, and Sun Cable now shapes as a defining moment for Mr Cannon-Brookes – who has taken a prominent role in leading Australia’s energy transition through his advocacy stake in AGL Energy and clean energy investments via his private investment company, Grok.

But the scale of the challenge has been widely disparaged, with critics questioning the investment rationale for sending renewable energy to Singapore.

At 4200km, the link to Singapore would be more than five times bigger than the longest submarine link yet proposed – the 767km Viking link between the UK and Denmark – testing engineering capabilities and exposing the project to a sovereign risk as it flows near Indonesian territorial waters.

But Mr Cannon-Brookes remained steadfast in his commitment to the project.

“We’ve long believed in the technological viability of this as a solution. Each of the component parts, cables, and solar generation batteries are well tested, and relatively modular and scalable technologies. Putting them together has some interesting engineering challenges, but there’s no reason on a technical level or technological level that these aren’t viable processes,” Mr Cannon-Brookes said when asked why he had such faith in the design when others did not.

“I think we’re seeing around the world increasing proof points that subsea cables … have been repeatedly proven and we’re constantly setting records for depths and links of subsea cables.”

Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: Zan Wimberley

Mr Cannon-Brookes said he is confident Sun Cable can be a significant contributor to Singapore’s target of importing 4GW from low-carbon sources by 2035.

Under the plans for the project, Sun Cable will develop Australia’s largest solar farm near Tennant Creek and then ship the clean energy to Darwin via a 6.4GW, 800km overhead transmission line. The energy will be supplemented with 36-42 gigawatt hours of battery storage.

David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook, said the company will work with Mr Cannon-Brookes to deliver the domestic element of the plan.

“Quinbrook is providing a range of development services to Grok and Sun Cable including prospective customer engagement, project construction and operations, and has rights to make a substantial equity investment into the onshore projects,” Mr Scaysbrook said.

Mr Cannon-Brookes said the first stage development will see 900MW of electricity remain in the NT to service demand from industrial customers in the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct in Darwin, Northern Territory.

The Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct is the centrepiece of the NT’s economic growth plan. It wants to lure development in renewable hydrogen, advanced manufacturing, carbon capture and storage, and minerals processing, which will all need significant amounts of electricity.

A further 1.75GW of electricity will be delivered to Singapore, and Mr Cannon-Brookes said the venture has secured interest for about six times of the energy on offer.

Although reaffirming his vision for Sun Cable, the company did confirm new management. Mr Cannon-Brookes said Mitesh Patel has been appointed interim chief executive and chief operating officer of the international part of the venture, while Mark Branson will remain chief development officer of SunCable Australia.

For the vision to be realised, however, Sun Cable must first secure a licence to be able to import renewable energy into Singapore.

Mr Cannon-Brookes said an application would be submitted within weeks, a key milestone as the project approaches final investment decision.

Sun Cable will also have line up capital for the project, but Jeremy Kwong-Law, CEO of Grok Ventures, said the company has a high degree of confidence in the attractiveness of the venture as project milestones are reached.

“Grok has always said we are willing to work alongside constructive partners who share our vision and help the AAPowerLink achieve its goals. Once all milestones are reached and we reach financial investment decision, we have a high conviction that large institutional investors and debt providers will fund the capital expenditure to construct the project.”

As it waits for Singaporean approval, Mr Cannon-Brookes said Sun Cable will set up a manufacturing facility to produce and test the high-voltage cables that it will need for the connection between Darwin and Singapore. The plant is expected to be in Australia, with the location to be announced shortly.