Singapore approves import of solar energy from Australia via undersea cable

A multi-billion dollar project to pipe solar-generated electricity 4,300 km (2,672 miles) to Singapore from Australia has received conditional approval from the island state's energy market regulator, project owner SunCable said on Tuesday, reports Reuters. 

Singapore's Energy Market Authority granted the conditional approval after a process to determine whether SunCable's Australia-Asia PowerLink project was technically and commercially viable, the company said in a press release.

Owned by Atlassian  billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, SunCable aims to produce 6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity at a vast solar farm in Northern Australia and ship about a third of that to Singapore via undersea cable.

Suncable says the project will generate A$20 billion ($13 billion) in economic value for northern Australia.

However, the project has been dogged by questions over its viability and Cannon-Brookes took control after a dispute with fellow owner and Fortescue Metals  billionaire founder Andrew Forrest over its prospects for success.