What’s Going On With Sun Cable, Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Ambitious Solar Project?

What’s Going On With Sun Cable, Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Ambitious Solar Project?

Sun Cable, an ambitious solar project backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest, has collapsed into administration.

The move into administration comes after billionaire shareholders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest were “unable to agree on a path forward for the $25 billion business”, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

FTI Consulting, a financial services firm from the U.S., has been appointed to administer the company.

“The Administrators intend to work with the Company’s management team and key stakeholders to determine appropriate next steps for the business,” the press release reads. “This will likely involve a process to seek expressions of interest for either a recapitalisation or sale of the business.”

“Sun Cable has achieved so much since it was founded in 2018. I’m confident it will play a huge role in delivering green energy for the world, right here from Australia. I fully back this ambition and the team, and look forward to supporting the company’s next chapter,” Mike Cannon-Brookes said in the statement.

In a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, Cannon-Brookes’ personal investment company, Grok Ventures, said that it was confident that “Sun Cable will be an attractive investment proposition and remain at the forefront of Australia’s energy transition.”

When this article was originally written in June 2022, Sun Cable had been approved by Infrastructure Australia for investment. It was set to be the world’s largest solar generation and transmission project.

Sun Cable announced that Infrastructure Australia had approved the project’s economic merit, meaning that the project was “investment ready”. The project includes “AAPowerLink”, which seeks to service the Indo-Pacific region with renewable energy. Cannon-Brookes (co-founder of Atlassian) and Forrest (chairman of iron ore giant Fortescue Metals) invested in the project in March 2022.

Sun Cable began to pick up steam back in 2020. In June, the project envisioned a 12,000-hectare solar farm, capable of producing 17-20 GWp (gigawatt peak) of energy, with 36-42 GWh of battery storage. From this farm, a 4,200km seafloor cable would be run from the Northern Territory’s Barkly Region all the way to Singapore. Solar tends to take up a lot of land, but this project massively outsizes current solar projects in Australia (the New England solar farm is only 2,000 hectares).

“Today’s announcement by Infrastructure Australia affirms that the AAPowerLink is economically viable and will deliver significant benefits for Australia and our region,” said Sun Cable’s founder and CEO, David Griffin.

“The AAPowerLink will enable a stronger economy for the long term through contracts, wages and economic diversification. It will spur enhanced capacity and skills in the construction and technology sectors as a result of jobs and training over the lifetime of the project, and pave the way for new green industries to be established, and to thrive.”

sun cable
A Sun Cable testing site. Image: Sun Cable

The company expected that $8 billion would be generated in investment, and $2 billion was expected from annual export revenues from 2028. Additionally, the project was expected to create 14,000 direct and indirect jobs (mainly in Australia). To get the project going, it would need about $30 billion dollars, according to June’s announcement.

“Sun Cable’s project will position the territory as a renewable energy powerhouse – powering Territory industries with territory sunshine, creating new permanent jobs, and establishing a new export industry,” added Chief Minister of The Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles.

We will need a lot of Sun Cable-like projects in our shift to renewables, so it’s a shame to see it fall into administration.


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