The federal government has approved a massive solar energy farm in the Northern Territory that may even one-day export power to Singapore and other nations across Southeast Asia.

But Australia Institute research director Rod Campbell said hurdles will need to be overcome before that can happen, including competition for key workers with fossil fuel projects.

“Exporting clean electricity is a great idea,” Campbell said of the SunCable project.

“But before it becomes a reality there are some serious hurdles to overcome.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek gave environmental approval to the first stage of SunCable’s Australia-Asia Power Link on Wednesday, clearing the way for what could become the largest renewable energy farm in the world.

Up to 10 gigawatts of solar, wind and battery storage will be constructed, which is enough to power as many as three million homes.

“This massive project is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure. It will be the largest solar precinct in the world – and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy,” Plibersek said.

Renewable energy advocates are welcoming the project, which is financially backed by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and also hopes to one day export renewable power overseas.

That part of the plan was not granted final environmental approval on Wednesday, but the company does now have permission to build underwater cables to the end of Australian waters.

Up to 1.7 gigawatts of additional capacity is slated to be installed at the farm for export overseas.

However, Campbell said budget documents show that the government isn’t anticipating renewable energy exports to take off in the next few decades.

“It’s really unclear if or how renewable energy exports can work,” he said.

“While the Australian government talks a big game on hydrogen exports, it’s clear from budget documents that they are not actually expecting major volumes of exports in the next decade or two.”

Thousands of kilometres of undersea cable would export from the NT. Photo: Suncable.

Massive renewable energy farm

Aside from meeting domestic power needs, Australia’s advantages in generating renewable energy – sun, wind and land – have been identified as a business opportunity by investors.

SunCable was initially a joint investment between Cannon-Brookes and fellow Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, who envisioned the farm could export green hydrogen (gas).

But differences between the two over the direction of the program resulted in Cannon-Brookes restructuring it to focus on exporting solar power directly into Southeast Asia through cables.

The hope is that Australia could supply up to 15 per cent of Singapore’s electricity needs in coming decades, with the nation state currently relying on natural gas for 95 per cent of its grid.

How much export income that will generate is unclear, and will ultimately depend on the price of the power and how much it ultimately costs to construct thousands of kilometres in sea cables.

But Cannon-Brookes believes renewables could spark another commodities boom for Australia.

SunCable was initially a joint investment between Cannon-Brookes and fellow Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest. Photo: Getty

“The next commodities boom in this country will not be founded on coal,” Cannon-Brookes said of the project late last year.

“It will be founded on the generation and export of our renewable energy.”

There’s still a lot of work to be done, however, with the latest environmental approval mainly focusing on the domestic electricity generation that will flow from the NT-based power farm.

Both Singapore and Indonesia need to be involved in constructing thousands of kilometres in undersea cables within their own jurisdictions before any electricity could be exported there.

Campbell said consideration also needs to be given to workforce constraints in constructing the renewable energy farm in the NT.

“It’s difficult to get skilled workers to major project sites,” he said.

“This project will have to compete for labour with the 100 new coal and gas projects that are in various stages of development … the Australian government should put a moratorium on new coal and gas to assist with developments like this.”