A consortium led by Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures is to acquire substantially all the assets of Sun Cable, the project planned to harvest solar energy in the Northern Territory and transmit it to Singapore via an undersea cable.
The administrators for Sun Cable, FTI Consulting, announced on 26 May that Helietta Holdings 1, an entity affiliated with Grok Ventures had submitted the winning tender to take control of the business.
No acquisition price was disclosed.
Previously owned in partnership by Grok and Andrew Forrest-controlled Fortescue Metals, Sun Cable was placed in receivership late last year after the partners fell out over its development. Forrest had said publicly that he wanted the cable part of the project to be put on hold for now, in favour of using the project’s solar energy to power the production of hydrogen.
Under the new ownership, Sun Cable will continue plans to develop a massive 20-gigawatt solar farm in the Northern Territory that would provide poser to Drawing and, via a 4,200-kilometre cable, Singapore. The project has been estimated to cost more than $35 billion.
Australia-based global sustainable infrastructure investment firm Quinbrook joined Grok in bidding for Sun Cable. Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has invested in the development of major solar, energy storage and renewable gas and projects in the US and the UK as well as Australia.
Cannon-Brookes, the billionaire co-founder of software company Atlassian, said, in a statement, the acquisition would be “a big step in the right direction”.
“We’ve always believed in the possibilities Sun Cable presents in exporting our boundless sunshine, and what it could mean for Australia. It’s time to stretch our country’s ambition. We need to take big swings if we are going to be a renewable energy superpower, so swing we will,” he said.
Quinbrook co-founder David Scaysbrook said Sun Cable was “a visionary undertaking by any measure” and a project of global significance.
“Quinbrook will focus on delivering on the opportunity afforded by northern Australia’s abundant solar and wind energy resources and showcasing the important and complementary role that the world’s most advanced storage technologies can offer in supplying energy intensive industry with reliable and competitively priced, carbon-free power solutions,” he said.
“Quinbrook is one of the world’s leading investors in the sustainable infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition and brings considerable experience in the successful development of innovative, mega-scale renewables projects around the world. With construction well underway on the largest solar and storage projects ever undertaken in the US and the UK, it is well positioned to assist Grok to complete the development of what promises to be not only one of the largest renewables projects in Australia but a project of global significance.”
FTI said the transaction was expected to complete by the end of July.
Image: Mike Cannon-Brookes.