Australia Approves US$13.5 Billion Project To Export Solar Energy To Singapore
Australia Approves US$13.5 Billion Project To Export Solar Energy To Singapore
Australia said on Wednesday (Aug 21) it had given the go-ahead for a A$20 billion (US$13.5 billion) solar project that plans to ship energy from a giant solar farm in the country's north to Singapore through a 4,300km undersea cable.
澳洲週三（8月21日）表示已批准價值200億澳元（135億美元）的太陽能項目，計劃通過一條4300公里的海底電纜，從該國北部的巨型太陽能農場輸送能源至新加坡。
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said SunCable's flagship Australia-Asia power link project would help meet the growing demand for renewable energy at home and abroad.Plibersek said the vast solar farm would generate enough energy to power three million homes and would include panels, batteries and eventually, a cable linking Australia with Singapore.
環保母基部長塔尼婭•普里伯塞克表示，SunCable的旗艦項目「澳洲-亞洲電力聯繫計劃」將有助於滿足國內外對可再生能源日益增長的需求。普里伯塞克表示，這個龐大的太陽能農場將產生足夠的能量供三百萬個家庭使用，將包括電池板、電池和最終連接澳洲與新加坡的電纜。
"It will be the largest solar precinct in the world and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy," she said.
「這將是世界上最大的太陽能項目，並將把澳洲打造成世界綠色能源領導者，」她說。
A final investment decision is expected in 2027 with electricity supply to begin in the early 2030s, according to SunCable.
SunCable稱，預計將於2027年做出最終投資決定，電力供應將在2030年代初開始。
The approval comes with strict conditions to protect nature and the project must avoid the habitat of greater bilby, which are small rabbit-like marsupials with long floppy ears, Plibersek said.
普里伯塞克表示，批准條件嚴格，以保護自然，項目必須避免大耳袋狸的棲息地，大耳袋狸是長耳朵、像兔子一樣的有袋動物。
Over two stages of development, the project aims to deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity to large-scale industrial customers in Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory, and in Singapore.The approval comes as the centre-left government ramps up renewable energy projects even as the opposition coalition proposes building nuclear plants to replace coal-fired power by 2050, in a country where nuclear power is currently banned.
在兩個開發階段，該項目旨在向澳洲北領地的首府達爾文和新加坡的大型工業客戶提供高達6千兆瓦的綠色電力。儘管反對派聯合提議在2050年之前建造核電站以取代燃煤電力，在這個目前禁止核電的國家，但中左翼政府批准了這些可再生能源項目。
SunCable, owned by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, said the approval was "a vote of confidence" in the project.
億萬富翁邁克•坎農-布魯克斯擁有的SunCable表示，這一批准是對該項目的「信心投票」。
Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of tech firm Atlassian turned environmental activist, last year said the project was viable and that outside investors would be drawn to the project.
Atlassian科技公司聯合創始人兼環保活動家坎農-布魯克斯去年表示，該項目是可行的，外部投資者將被吸引到這個項目中。
"SunCable will now focus its efforts on the next stage of planning to advance the project towards a final investment decision targeted by 2027," SunCable Australia Managing Director Cameron Garnsworthy said in a statement, which did not provide details of its financing plans.
「SunCable將將其努力集中在下一個規劃階段，以推動該項目朝着計劃於2027年做出的最終投資決策邁進，」 SunCable Australia董事總經理Cameron Garnsworthy在一份聲明中表示，並未提供其融資計劃的詳細信息。
SunCable said it was in talks with Singapore's energy regulator on the conditional approval for the project's cable inter-connector component and with the Indonesian government on building the cable in its waters.
SunCable表示正在與新加坡能源監管機構就該項目電纜互聯器部分的條件批准進行談判，並與印度尼西亞政府就在其水域內建設電纜進行談判。
The project received clearance from the Northern Territory government and the territory's environment watchdog last month.
該項目獲得了北領地政府和該地區的環境監督機構上個月的批准。
Reuters
由於微軟在人工智能領域的重大投資和其通過與ChatGPT的製造商OpenAI的戰略合作所獲得的珍貴技術，Azure雲計算業務正迅速增長。