Australia-based Sun Cable, a clean energy company, has raised A$210 million (~$153 million) in a Series B funding round.
Grok Ventures and Squadron Energy (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tattarang) co-led the financing round.
The company plans to use the new funds to develop the Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink) project and accelerate its multi-gigawatt generation and transmission projects.
Sun Cable’s flagship project Australia-Asia PowerLink Project is a 12,000-hectare Solar Precinct with 17-20 GW solar generation and 36-42 GWh energy storage to enable 24/7 dispatchable electricity near Elliott, Northern Territory. The AAPowerLink will utilize and store solar energy from the Northern Territory in Australia and transmit it to Darwin and Singapore through a high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable transmission system.
HVDC Overhead Transmission Line will transmit 3 GW of electricity from the Solar Precinct to the Darwin region with 800 MW of renewable electricity capacity delivered to Darwin. HVDC subsea cable will transmit electricity to Singapore via ~4,200 km through Indonesia, with 2 GW of capacity leaving Darwin.
The AAPowerLink will be capable of supplying up to 15% of Singapore’s total electricity needs.
“This capital raise will enable the delivery of renewable solar power from Australia to Singapore, advance our other multi-gigawatt scale projects, and support the progress of key facilitating assets,” said David Griffin, Founder & CEO at Sun Cable.
Dr. Andrew Forrest AO, Chairman of Tattarang, says, “Sun Cable’s vision will transform Australia’s capability to become a world-leading generator and exporter of renewable electricity and enable decarbonization. I’m proud to be a cornerstone investor in Sun Cable, its team, and its vision. This capital raise is a critical step in developing the Australia-Asia PowerLink, and I applaud Sun Cable for realizing this mission.”
Mike Cannon-Brookes, Principal of Grok Ventures, says, “This brings Australia one step closer to realizing our renewables exporting potential. We can power the world with clean energy, and Sun Cable harnesses that at scale. It’s a blueprint for how we export energy across the world. We are fully back this vision.”
According to Mercom’s recently published Q4 2021 solar funding and M&A report, global venture capital and private equity funding in the solar sector in 2021 came to $4.5 billion, a 281% increase compared to the $1.2 billion in 2020. This is the highest amount of VC funding for the solar sector since 2010.
