by Ganesh Sahathevan
RM10b bonds to fund cable project
Readers may recall Ting Pek Khing's Bakum Dam project in the mid 90s which included a 680 km undersea cable from Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia, near Singapore.
The project was eventually rejected for its sheer stupidity.
Now however we have two Australian billioaneirs who with government backing are proposing exporting solar energy via a 3750 km undersea cable from Darwin to Singapore.They say they will make AUD 1 Billion a year doing so, over a period of 70 years.
Which begs the question; is Ting's proposal suddenly viable, and would it not be a cheaper, more reliable option for Singapore?
TO BE READ WITH
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Australia's solar powered Ting Pek Khings: Billionaires Andrew Forrest & Cannon-Brookes obtain NT Govt backing for a project that will sell solar power to Singapore, says state owned ABC.
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Australian Government owned ABC News has reported this morning that Sun Cable, the world's largest solar farm backed by Twiggy Forrest and Mike Canon-Brookes, could by 2027, the project could supply 15 per cent of Singapore's power supply.
The project has the backing on the Northern Territory Government. The ABC also said :
"Massive projects don't happen overnight and this is genuinely massive," Chief Minister Michael Gunner said. "We’ve ticked another box today."
(Sun Cable chief executive David Griffin) described the latest agreement as a road-map to the "financial close" phase of the project, setting out how the company would work with and resolve any issues with the NT Government.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Commonwealth Government have already granted the scheme Major Project Status.
ABC has added that " intended customer Singapore yet to commit".
However that is not the whole story. Singapore's ChannelNewsAsia has already reported that Singapore has in fact signed with suppliers in Malaysia (which even Ita and her board must know is much closer to Singapore than Darwin) for its future power needs. Malaysian suppliers generate power from coal and gas plants.
And of course, Ting never envisaged something of this scale:
Sun Cable's $22 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link project includes a 10 gigawatt solar farm and battery on a remote pastoral station, about 70 kilometres south-west of Elliott.
A transmission line in the Barkly region would connect the system to Darwin and a 3,750 kilometre undersea cable would then run from Darwin Harbour to Singapore.
TO BE READ WITH
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Singapore's Channel News Asia says Singapore’s dreams of becoming a solar-powered nation have almost arrived; no mention of buying solar energy from Andrew Forrest & Cannon-Brookes
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Singapore seems not to have heard of Andrew Forrest's
Australian-ASEAN Power Link
Singapore's Channel News Asia is reporting that Singapore’s dreams of becoming a solar-powered nation have almost arrived . The report speaks of how Singapore is building its own solar capacity, and it does not include buying solar energy from Andrew Forrest & Cannon-Brookes.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Singapore seems not to have heard of Andrew Forrest's
Australian-ASEAN Power Link
The need for an explanation from Minister For Energy Angus Taylor and the Morrison Government as to why the Forrest & Cannon-Brookes solar energy to Singapore project has been granted Major Project Status is now urgent.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Angus Taylor & Australian Government grant billionaires Twiggy & Canon-Brookes solar power to Singapore project Major Project Status: Still no word from Singapore if the supply will be accepted,so why is the Australian Govt throwing money at these billionaires at their sun light white elephant?
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Renew Economy and others have reported:
Minister for industry, science and technology Karen Andrews said on Wednesday that the Australian-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) for the massive project, planned for the Northern Territory’s Barkly region near Tennant Creek, had been granted Major Project Status.
Federal minister for energy and emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, said the Sun Cable project would maintain Australia’s position as an energy exporting powerhouse.
“Australia has long been a world leader in energy exports,” Minister Taylor said. “As technologies change, we can capitalise on our strengths in renewables to continue to lead the world in energy exports.”
Meanwhile Singapore has had nothing to say about buying this power, and neither have Indonesia or any other ASEAN Country.
TO BE READ WITH
Renew Economy and others have reported:
Minister for industry, science and technology Karen Andrews said on Wednesday that the Australian-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) for the massive project, planned for the Northern Territory’s Barkly region near Tennant Creek, had been granted Major Project Status.
Federal minister for energy and emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, said the Sun Cable project would maintain Australia’s position as an energy exporting powerhouse.
“Australia has long been a world leader in energy exports,” Minister Taylor said. “As technologies change, we can capitalise on our strengths in renewables to continue to lead the world in energy exports.”
Meanwhile Singapore has had nothing to say about buying this power, and neither have Indonesia or any other ASEAN Country.
TO BE READ WITH
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Australian billionaires propose to do a Bakun where Olivia Lum failed: Twiggy & Canon-Brookes looking decidedly old school, taking after Ting Pek Khiing,and is PwC going to be answerable to investors in this remake of the mid-90s Bakun Undersea Cable disaster
by Ganesh Sahathevan
First the Sydney Morning Herald headline, which seems not to have made any impact in Singapore:
Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest have joined a capital raising of "tens of millions of dollars" to build a huge solar farm in Australia to supply electricity to Singapore.
David Griffin, chief executive of Sun Cable, did not disclose the total investment other than to say it was less than $50 million. Mr Cannon-Brookes and his wife, Annie, were "lead investors" with their family firm Grok Ventures, while Mr Forrest tipped in funds from his Squadron Energy company.
The over-subscribed raising marks the start of what could become a $22 billion plan to build the world's largest solar farm with a 10-gigawatt capacity covering 15,000 hectares near Tennant Creek in the NT, and a 22GW-hour storage plant.
The project would aim to supply competitively priced electricity to the Darwin region and to Singapore via a 4500-kilometre high-voltage cable.
First the Sydney Morning Herald headline, which seems not to have made any impact in Singapore:
Billionaires invest in 'massive' solar farm to supply power to Singapore
Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest have joined a capital raising of "tens of millions of dollars" to build a huge solar farm in Australia to supply electricity to Singapore.
David Griffin, chief executive of Sun Cable, did not disclose the total investment other than to say it was less than $50 million. Mr Cannon-Brookes and his wife, Annie, were "lead investors" with their family firm Grok Ventures, while Mr Forrest tipped in funds from his Squadron Energy company.
The over-subscribed raising marks the start of what could become a $22 billion plan to build the world's largest solar farm with a 10-gigawatt capacity covering 15,000 hectares near Tennant Creek in the NT, and a 22GW-hour storage plant.
The project would aim to supply competitively priced electricity to the Darwin region and to Singapore via a 4500-kilometre high-voltage cable.
All this brings to mind a slightly less ambitious plan from the mid 90s, which was even easier to fund, and finally died ten years ago despite valiant attempts by less than clean politicians to keep it alive:
RM10b bonds to fund cable project
See Also
Damned Corruption Began With Bakun
AND, Singapore's energy market is a tough one, even for local heroes like Olivia Lum, who has got badly burnt by an attempt to diversify into energy generation:
In 2017, Hyflux embarked on a divestment exercise of Tuaspring Integrated Water and Power Project - the company's largest asset - "in line with its asset light strategy", but was unable to finalise any binding bids.
It said that "despite strong initial interest in this project", losses from electricity generation, lack of understanding of Singapore power market by potential buyers and delayed regulatory approval led to "a protracted sale process"
PwC have led the fund raising for the Australian project, and one does wonder about their liability for promoting the project:
The Australia Singapore Power Link (ASPL) aims to supply renewable electricity from a 10GW solar farm to both Darwin and Singapore via a high voltage direct current transmission line – a plan first outlined by Beyond Zero Emissions in August, and which quickly attracted the attention of the likes of Cannon-Brookes.
According to a release from pWc, who guided the fund-raising process, the project will also include a massive 22GWh of battery storage located near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, with electricity supply transported by a high voltage direct current transmission network, extending 4,500 km from the project site.
END
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