Atlassian Corp. co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest have committed more cash to a $30 billion Australian dollars ($21.9 billion) project to export solar power from Australia¡¯s Northern Territory to Singapore via an undersea cable.
Sun Cable Pty Ltd. completed a AU$210 million Series B capital raising with existing shareholders to accelerate the progress of the Australia-Asia PowerLink, as well as other projects in its portfolio, the company said in a statement Monday. The raising was led by Cannon-Brookes¡¯ investment group Grok Ventures and Forrest¡¯s Squadron Energy.
Sun Cable plans to lay a 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) high-voltage cable to supply enough electricity to meet 15% of Singapore¡¯s demand from a giant solar and battery complex deep in the Outback. The project will also supply the northern Australian city of Darwin when it starts operating in 2027.
¡°This brings Australia one step closer to realizing our renewables exporting potential,¡± Cannon-Brookes said in a statement. ¡°We can power the world with clean energy and Sun Cable is harnessing that at scale.¡±
Cannon-Brookes has been a vocal campaigner for the clean energy transition in Australia, which still gets around 60% of its power from coal, teaming up with investment giant Brookfield last month in a failed bid for generation company AGL Energy Ltd. The partners had planned to accelerate the closure of AGL¡¯s coal-fired plants and replace them with renewables.
Forrest is looking to transform his iron-ore empire into a major clean energy producer over the next decade, and has been scouring the planet for opportunities to invest in renewables and green hydrogen projects.
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