Australia To Construct World’s Largest Solar Plant

In a major step towards making Australia a renewable energy superpower, the Albanese Government on Wednesday has approved a huge new industrial solar power project, the biggest in the world, in the Northern Territory.

The $24 billion SunCable’s Australia-Asia Power Link will be the biggest solar farm in Australia and is expected to generate up to 6 GW of renewable energy including 4GW to be used in Darwin – which is the energy equivalent to power 3 million homes.

This approval means the Albanese Government has ticked off enough renewable energy projects to power almost 7 million homes. Of the 6 GW power, 4 GW of energy per hour will be for domestic use and the remaining 2 GW sent offshore to Singapore.

New projects like this are vital to meet the growing local and international demand for renewable energy, and help put downward pressure on energy prices, but they are also great for local jobs and economies.

The project will be economically and socially transformational for the Northern Territory. It will enable a green manufacturing sector, produce renewable solar power for Darwin and for potential export to Singapore, and provide a long-term source of ongoing employment in remote areas.

SunCable estimate the project will deliver more than $20 billion in economic value to the Northern Territory and support an average of 6,800 direct and indirect jobs for each year of the construction phase, with a peak workforce of 14,300.

The 12,000-hectare solar farm project is located on a pastoral station between Elliot and Tennant Creek. The approval also includes an 800 km transmission line to Darwin and an underwater cable to the end of Australian waters.

The approval comes with strict conditions to protect nature including requirements to completely avoid important species like the Greater Bilby and critical habitat.

World’s Largest Project

Australia’s Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek said that this massive project is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure. It will be the largest solar precinct in the world – and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy and would include panels, batteries and, eventually, a cable linking Australia with Singapore.

She said that the energy generated by this project would be almost six times the amount of energy a 700 MW large nuclear reactor could deliver, based on International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) figures.

We have no idea what the equivalent to Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s anti-renewables nuclear plan might be because there are no details other than it being too slow and too expensive Australia. Not only will this project help turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower, it will be a huge boost for the Northern Territory economy, she said.

“It will mean more 14,300 new jobs in northern Australia, and it will turbocharge our research and manufacturing capacity in renewable technology. I have now ticked off over 55 renewable energy projects which is enough to power the equivalent of almost 7 million homes,” she said.

“Australians have a choice between a renewable energy transition that’s already underway creating jobs and driving down prices; or paying for an expensive nuclear fantasy that may never happen,” she added.