Billionaire’s solar deal revives Australia-Singapore undersea power cable dream
- New deal by Mike Cannon-Brookes gives his company control of a vast renewable energy development that stalled in January after a dispute with former partner
- Project has been touted as among initiatives that could help Asia’s fossil-fuel dominated economies – particularly space constrained nations such as Singapore
Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes will revive a stalled A$30 billion (US$20 billion) plan to export solar power from Australia to Singapore after acquiring the assets of the failed Sun Cable project.
The deal gives Cannon-Brookes and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners control of a vast renewable energy development in northern Australia that went into voluntary administration in January following a dispute between the Atlassian Corp co-founder and fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest, both key investors.
The two disagreed over a plan to transport electricity to Asia through a 4,200-kilometre (2,600-mile) submarine cable.
“We’ve always believed in the possibilities Sun Cable presents in exporting our boundless sunshine, and what it could mean for Australia,” said Cannon-Brookes, who backs the export plan.
The project has been touted as among initiatives that could help Asia’s fossil-fuel dominated economies – particularly space constrained nations like Singapore with little room to install major renewables sites – to shift to lower-emissions electricity sources.
