Australia backs plan for intercontinental power grid

By AFP

Australia touted a world-first project Tuesday that could help make the country a "renewable energy superpower" by shifting huge volumes of solar electricity under the sea to Singapore.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra to ink a new green energy deal between the two countries.

Albanese said the pact showed a "collective resolve" to slash greenhouse gas emissions through an ambitious energy project.

He name-checked clean energy start-up Sun Cable, which wants to build a high-voltage transmission line capable of shifting huge volumes of solar power from the deserts of northern Australia to tropical Singapore.

Sun Cable has said that, if successful, it would be the world's first intercontinental power grid.

"If this project can be made to work -- and I believe it can be -- you will see the world's largest solar farm," Albanese told reporters.

"The prospect of Sun Cable is just one part of what I talk about when I say Australia can be a renewable energy superpower for the world."

Lee said the green economy deal was the "first such agreement of its kind".

"We hope that it will be a pathfinder for other countries simply to co-operate with one another to deal with what is a global problem."

Australia is one of the world's largest coal and gas exporters and has been frequently criticised on the global stage for its failure to make meaningful reductions in carbon emissions.

Coal still plays a key role in domestic electricity production.