by Ganesh Sahathevan
.............Sun Cable, which has the potential to export clean energy to Singapore, is the ultimate win-win. If this project can be made to work - and I believe it can be - you will see the world's largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances, the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs. And the prospect of Sun Cable is just one part of what I talk about when I say Australia can be a renewable energy superpower for the world.
Just under three months later the project collapsed, for some very obvious reasons( see story below).
Australian media has never been shy to investigate and criticise Asian politicians and their fantasy projects. The Bakun Dam project promoted by then Prime Minister Of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad which was meant to transmit hydropower across the South China Sea is one eerily similar example.
Australian media must now do the same to the their own Prime Minister who has misled Australians and Singaporeans.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Albanese's Sun Cable fantasy collapses - Albo must now explain why he misled Australians, and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Albanese has used his position to promote Sun Cable, in Australia and overseas, despite Sun Cable having no power supply agreement with the Government Of Singapore.
A dispute between Mike Canon- Brookes and Twiggy Forrest is said to have been the reason why Sun Cable has been put into administration. The ABC is reporting that there are " disagreements about the funding and direction of the company......these included the significant amounts of cash that Sun Cable was spending, and its failure to achieve certain milestones".
As reported by this writer Sun Cable, Prime Minister Albanese of Australia, and the Chief Minister of The Northern Territory, Natahsa Fyles, all claimed that Sun Cable would supply Singapore with solar power from a solar bank in the Northern Territory, when in fact no agreement had been reached with the Government Of Singapore.
All three, but in particular Albanese and Fyles, must now explain why they misled Australians, and account for all any government resources provided the project.
TO BE READ WITH
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-11/sun-cable-enters-administration/101845100
Monday, October 24, 2022
PM Lee Hsien Loong confronted with another Crooked Bridge dilemma. From the south, out of Australia, Australia's PM Albanese demands that Hsien Loong share his fantasy of a solar power cable connecting Singapore and Australia
by Ganesh Sahathevan
For much of the past decade Singapore has had to endure demands from Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad that the causeway connecting the two countries be replaced by what has become known as the Crooked Bridge. His resignation as prime minister of Malaysia in 2020 seems to have put that demand to rest but now it seems Singapore and its prime minster Lee Hsien Loong are being tormented by a similar demand, this time from the south, from Australia's PM Albanese who demands that Hsien Loong share his fantasy of a solar power cable connecting Singapore and Australia.
As this writer noted, Albanese seemed to be channeling BJ Habibie, the former Indonesian President (who is supposed to have described Singapore as a little red dot) when he told Hsien Loong at a press conference in Canberra:
"This island continent of ours is a little bit bigger than the island continent of Singapore...... And hence, a project like Sun Cable, which has the potential to export clean energy to Singapore, is the ultimate win-win. If this project can be made to work - and I believe it can be - you will see the world's largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances, the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs".
Hsien Loong said nothing in response, and that is to be expected for Hsien Loong, his government, and the relevant authorities have yet to provide Sun Cable any approvals whatsoever to Sun Cable:
Infrastructure Australia says Sun Cable's Darwin-Singapore solar cable qualifies for taxpayer funding, Singapore says Sun Cable does not have permission to import electricity into Singapore
While Mahathir's insistence on the Crooked Bridge despite a lack of interest from Singapore caused local Malaysian media to investigate the motivation for the project, there has yet to be any serious investigation in Australia into Albanese's fantasy.
END
