The world's largest solar farm worth $ 22 billion will be built in the Australian outback . According to calculations, the Newcastle Waters solar power plant will produce 10 GW of electricity. The farm will occupy an area of 10 thousand square meters. km. It will be so large that it will be visible from space.
The farm project is being developed by the Singaporean company Sun Cable . The facility will be located in Northern Australia at a livestock station between Alice Springs and Darwin near Elliott.
In July 2020, this project was given the status of a project of national importance (Major Project Status). This will facilitate the approval process for the Australian ASEAN Power Link using High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology. The process of approving project documentation has now begun. Documentation has been sent to the Australian Northern Territory Environmental Protection Agency.
Investors of the project became billionaires: mining magnate Andrew Forrest (Andrew Forrest) and technology entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes (Mike Cannon-Brookes).
An interesting point - the solar power plant will provide electricity not only to Australia, but also ... Singapore. For this, a 4.5 thousand km cable will be laid between the two states. Most of the power line will run along the ocean floor. The Guardian Geomatic won the tender for underwater exploration. By May 2021, a map of the underwater topography of the area will be ready.
The project is scheduled to launch in 2027. The farm is expected to provide 20% of Singapore's energy supply. This is important for a country seeking to abandon the expensive gas power system. In addition to Singapore, the farm will supply electricity to remote Australian communities that are now powered by unsustainable diesel generators.
San Cable CEO David Griffin said it is the largest solar farm in the world under development. It is about 300 times larger than the largest solar power plant in existence today.
The developer of the project Sun Cable claims that the project will provide 1.5 thousand jobs for builders and employ about 12 thousand more specialists, and 350 permanent jobs will be created to launch the project.
