The Australia-Asia Power Link or AAPowerLink is proposed by SunCable as a solar farm and battery facility in the Northern Territory to supply renewable electricity to Darwin and Singapore.
The project includes the development of a 12,000-hectare solar farm to be located on a pastoral station between Elliot and Tennant Creek in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. A battery complex is to be located nearby on Powell Creek, but the proposed scope of this component of the project has not been made public.
The electricity generated on the solar farm will be transported to Darwin via an 800-kilometre HVDC overhead transmission line that will generally follow the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway Corridor. This component has been labelled DarwinLink.
From Darwin, up to 1.75 GW of electricity will be transported via 4,300 kilometres of subsea cables to Singapore via Indonesian waters. This component has been labelled SingaporeLink.
This scope was significantly reduced in scale in 2024. The project had previously been proposed to include a 17 to 20 GW solar farm and 36 to 42 gigawatt hour (GWh) battery storage facility.
Key Dates
| Jul 2019 | Project Announcement |
| 2024 | Expected Financial Close |
Financing
| Equity Finance: | Grok Ventures and Squadron Energy |
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The capital raise was led by Grok Ventures and Squadron Energy, which were the initial co-lead investors in the project. Following a dispute between the two investors, administrators were appointed in 2023. Following this process, Grok Ventures acquired control of the project, after it was reported Squadron Energy did not submit a final bid. |
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Procurement
| Procuring Agency: | SunCable |
| Related contracts: |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Jul 2019 | The Northern Territory Government granted the project Major Project status, requiring Sun Cable to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment. |
| Nov 2019 | Sun Cable announced the completion of a $50 million Series A capital raising. |
| Jul 2020 | The Federal Government granted the project Major Project status. |
| Dec 2020 | A survey of 750 kilometres of the sea floor out to the Australian Maritime Border was completed. The survey for the remainder of the 3,800 kilometre route for the electricity interconnector was scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2021. |
| Jan 2021 | The Northern Territory Government and Sun Cable signed a Project Development Agreement. The agreement enables the finalisation of land tenure and commercial arrangements ahead of the project's financial close. |
| Sep 2021 | The Indonesian Government approved a route for the transmission cables through Indonesian waters and granted a subsea survey permit. Separately, Sun Cable indicated that project cost increased to more than A$30 billion from the previous cost estimate of A$22 billion. The scope of the project was also expanded, with the peak capacity of the solar farm growing to 17 to 20 gigawatts and battery storage increasing from 30 gigawatt-hours to 36 to 42 gigawatt-hours. |
| Oct 2021 | Sun Cable announced the appointment of the project's Integrated Project Delivery Team, which includes Bechtel, SMEC, Hatch, PwC and Marsh. |
| Mar 2022 | Sun Cable announced the completion of a $210 million Series B capital raising with existing shareholders to finance the Australia-Asia Power Link as well as other assets in the company's portfolio. |
| Apr 2022 | The NT Environment Protection Authority opened public consultation on the project's Environmental Impact Statement. Consultation closes on 15 July 2022. |
| May 2022 | The NT Government passed legislation to enable the project. |
| Jul 2022 | Sun Cable appointed Macquarie Capital, Moelis & Company and MA Financial Group as Joint Financial Advisers on the project. |
| Jan 2023 | Sun Cable was placed into voluntary administration. FTI Consulting were appointed as administrators. |
| Sep 2023 | SunCable announced the completion of the sale of its assets, including the shares in its operating subsidiaries, to Grok Ventures. |
| Aug 2024 | The Federal Government announced it had provided environmental approval for the project to be developed. The approval includes development of a six gigawatt solar farm between Eliot and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, an 800 kilometre transmission line to Darwin and the section of the proposed 4,300-kilometre underwater cable to Singapore to be located in Australian waters. This marked a significant descoping of the original project, which was to include a 17 to 20 GW solar farm and 36 to 42 GWh battery storage facility. |
Solar Project (Australia-Asia Power Link) (Special Provisions) Bill 2022
NT Environment Protection Authority project consultation page
NT Environment Protection Authority project page
