Australia Moves Forward with Major Renewable Energy Project

A plan to build a huge solar farm in Australia is a step closer after the Australian government gave environmental approvals for the $19 billion project recently.

Australian company Sun Cable plans to build a 12,400-hectare solar farm in a remote area of northern Australia. The farm will send electricity to the city of Darwin via an 800-kilometer overhead transmission line. Then the power will be transported to large industrial customers in Singapore through a 4,300-kilometer submarine cable.

The Australia-Asia PowerLink project aims to deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity each year. Such a project, Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek suggested, would “help turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower” and boost its economy.

Plibersek said in a written statement, “It will be the largest solar precinct in the world...”

The project was first backed by Australian mining businessman Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. The plans were discussed during a state visit by then-Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as part of a “Green Economy” agreement in 2022.

In January 2023, the project collapsed when Sun Cable was involved in a financing dispute between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes. By May of that year, a group led by Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures acquired the company, finalizing the takeover in September 2023.

SunCable Australia's managing director Cameron Garnsworthy said it was pleased to have cleared a major legal issue. He added that the company will now put its efforts into the next stage of planning to work towards "a Final Investment Decision targeted by 2027.”

The company said electricity supply would begin in the early 2030s.

Energy has been a politically charged issue for nearly 20 years in Australia. The country depends on coal and gas as well as money from exporting those fuels to help support its economy.

This dependence on fossil fuels has historically made it one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis.

Australia's main opposition party in June announced plans to build the country's first nuclear power plants as early as 2035. The announcement ensures the major parties will be divided on how to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions at elections due within a year.

The parties have not gone to an election with the same carbon reduction policies since 2007.

I'm John Russell.

Keiran Smith reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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customer -- n. one that buys a good or service

boost -- v. increase, raise

precinct -- n. a part of a territory with definite bounds often established for administrative purposes

fossil fuel -- n. a fuel (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth from plant or animal remains

greenhouse gas -- n. any of various gaseous compounds (such as carbon dioxide or methane) that absorb infrared radiation and trap heat in the atmosphere