Australia will be the leader of a new concept that will show the world how sun-soaked countries can transport their excess solar and wind energy to places thousands of kilometres away. A high voltage direct current submarine cable that is 3,800 km long will link Australia with the thriving city-state of Singapore. When fully operational in about ten years, it will provide up to 20% of Singapore’s power needs. A massive “energy farm” will be set up in the desert of Australia’s Northern Territory, with a 10 giga-watt capacity of solar panels spread across 15,000 hectares. There will also be a huge battery storage system to make sure that power can be supplied around the clock.

Chief executive of Sun Cable, David Griffin, explains the scope of the project this way: “If you have the transmission of electricity over very large distances between countries, then the flow of energy changes from liquid fuels – oil and liquid natural gas (LNG) – to electrons. Ultimately, that’s a vastly more efficient way to transport energy which will have profound implications.” Singapore is a perfect place to take advantage of this system as they have no natural resources and currently supply all of their power needs with gas and LNG.