Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has partnered with Grok, a company owned by Australian tech entrepreneur, Mike Cannon-Brookes, to take over the Sun Cable solar energy project.
The multi-billion development, backed by Australia’s federal and Northern Territory governments, centres around plans for a 17-20GW capacity solar farm and a 36-42GwH battery storage development in the Northern Territory.
The plan includes some 5,000km of overhead and subsea transmission lines intended to supply 15% of Singapore’s energy needs.
But funding disagreements between the original partners – Cannon-Brookes and fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest, placed the company in voluntary administration in January.
The administrator, FTI Consulting, has chosen the Quinbrook-Grok partnership to take over the project.
David Scaysbrook, Australian-based co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook, said: “With construction by well underway on the largest solar+storage projects ever undertaken in the US and the UK, Quinbrook is well-positioned to assist Grok to complete development of what promises to be not only one of the largest renewables projects in Australia but a project of global significance.”
The development of Sun Cable will make Quinbrook the largest operator of solar farms in Australia.
Mike Cannon-Brookes said: “[This is] 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.”
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