How Singapore Plans To Pipe Electricity From Australia
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- 95% of Singapore's electricity comes from burning natural gas. They do not have many alternatives. Not sure if you have heard, but Singapore is a small island. No room for sprawling solar or wind farms. A few rooftop solar panels on residential buildings. That is about it.
But what if you were to pipe in the electricity from overseas?
The Australia-ASEAN Power Link is a mega-project looking to bring renewable solar energy from Australia all the way to Singapore. It is also referred to as the "Sun Cable", after the Singaporean company developing the project.
In this video, I want to dive into how this company intends to bring clean solar power all the way to the Lion City.
Chapters
1:11 The Proposal
2:10 Transmitting Power
4:25 The Better Economics of HVDC
7:30 The Subsea Cable Challenge
10:52 Money and Execution
13:09 Conclusion
Credit and kudos to @shazmosushi for suggesting this topic.
Links:
The Asianometry Newsletter: asianometry.com
Patreon: / asianometry
For more insightful analyses, check out the Asianometry Science and Nature Playlist:
ruclips.net/p/PLKtxx9TnH76RGmBE75_3gOj3vz9m0J3Dw
Quite right about the skin effect, but most of the world uses 50Hz (which makes the skin effect even more negligible)...don't know if this project envisions 60Hz or 50Hz or some other frequency.
This will never work, stupid idea....
Project has collapsed. The company is in administration
If this project ever comes to fruition, they should have the Australian heavy rock band AC/DC play at the opening ceremony.
lol even just playing the song "Thunderstruck" over drone footage flying over that gigantic NT solar farm would be a great promo video! The proposed solar farm allotment shown at timestamp 2:03 is 12 MILES long and 6 MILES wide (or 20 kilometres by 10 kilometres). Bigger than Manhattan Island! I want to see the drone footage!
Singaporeans somehow love the song by Men at Work....do you come from the land down under? 😆🇸🇬❤
@@aave865 Good choice too! Links for the lazy:
AC/DC - Thunderstruck: ruclips.net/video/v2AC41dglnM/видео.html
Men At Work - Down Under: ruclips.net/video/XfR9iY5y94s/видео.html
@@shazmosushi nah, High Voltage from AC/DC is a much better choice. ruclips.net/video/Nnjh-zp6pP4/видео.html
@@markedwards4879 “High Voltage” is definitely the song for it
The skin effect is miniscule at 60hz. The reason why they use DC is because of AC capacitive coupling. Basically, AC can conduct through non-conductors, but this effect is proportional to surface contact with another closely positioned conductor. This is a small but non-negligible issue when AC is transferred over long distances over land, where AC couples with the semi-conductive ground. It is still manageable, and is not much of a concern outside safety.
Its only a big of a problem when these wires are placed in the ocean, where everywhere is extremely conductive salt water. Electrical power transfer over sea is always via DC to prevent this sort of capacitive losses.
THANK YOU! I was just about to comment on this. First time I see asianometry making a mistake :). All of Europe is one massive synchronous grid, but the UK is not connected due to the sea. They're connected with HVDC instead. As that's just a short distance, using HVDC would make no sense going by the videos explanation.
You can’t use dc at that distance.
This. Skin effect only really kicks in at much higher frequencies.
Was he right about the small losses using HVDC? Also, I'd no idea the Chinese were using HVDC above ground with power transmission from the 3 Gorges dam. I heard they were using giga-volt potential. Gigavolt DC equipment must be pretty impressive.
Why is Hydro-Québec's transmission line to New England HVDC then?
It's strange that the price tags of these monumental and important mega projects are in the same dimension as the acquisition of some app that gets aquired by some tech giant. Prices really are a strange thing.
But II need help! I've been bingewatching this great channel for hours now!
Truly. Also compare with military procurement Mind-boggling
@@rayhans7887 if the numbers are correct, you might might be able purchase a single aircraft carrier and perhaps a few F-35 aircraft for the cost of this project.
All acquisitions like that are priced based on future performance and not current current or past costs, especially in tech this has been a self-reinforcing spiral making everything crazy priced.
These projects have costs based on actual real world things like resources and man hours, rather than fantasies of perfect performance over many years to come.
Maintenance costs start to grow the instant the project is finished vs a application which is expected to make more money as it grows
Enjoy your binge. The awesome thing about this channel is that there’s a lot more to come. Unlike TV shows that either get worse over time or just end.
As an Australian engineer the thing that I find most curious about this project is that they propose to export the electricity to Singapore - rather than use the electricity locally to convert it to other useful things (hydrogen, aluminium, fresh water, cement, steel.. etc). I think we'd do better exporting energy-embedded materials than simply the electricity.
It is a proposal from Singapore to import. It clearly says so in the description and content. Australian governments have been extremely hostile towards renewable projects. There is a lot of coal in Queensland. This kind of project would be out of character for any Australian government.
Yes, energy embedded material manufacturing is a great way for Australia to go! I hope support for this huge economic opportunity grows.
Well, if this project proves to be economical despite the extensive cable lengths, it could open up further possibilities. For example a nuclear plant in Alice Springs providing electricity for the entirety of the mainland so that Tasmania can then keep its hydroelectricity for itself
@@spdfatomicstructure Nuclear?? There would be too much opposition in Aus.
As the video shows Aus has an abundance of solar and hydro, adding wind installations and related proposals, "big" batteries going in all over the country, nuclear is not needed.
@@TheHsan22 Solar does not produce power through the night. Coal power is still going to be needed for the night, and I doubt hydro would be sufficient to replace all the coal power. Nuclear power is the best solution, and everyone i've ever spoken to all agree. I live in Australia btw and i've never met anyone as far as I know who opposes nuclear power. I think it's the mining companies lobbying to keep coal power the dominate source of power because I don't think there is that opposition among the general population.
The main issue with running AC underwater, is from induction losses since salt water is a good conductor, the cable acts as a large capacitor. This isn't an issue with DC
It can be develop to ferroresonance right?
And i think main issue is Singapore is not friendly to Malaysia and Indonesia , then Singapore turn to Australia which make higher cost.
There is also a plan to build a huge solar array near Pilbara in Australia and use its output to electrolyze water into green hydrogen. This will be liquified and shipped to other Asian countries, where it can be used to generate green electricity among other things. So there is an alternative way to eliminate the fossil fuels and not have to transmit electricity long distances. If you're reading this, I guess you should make a video about this plan.
For those interested, that project is called "Asian Renewable Energy Hub" and was originally another submarine power cable project (from Pilbara, Western Australia not central Northern Territory)
liquified hydrogen for export is nonsense, it takes huge energy to liquify it, their are no ships capable of transporting it and no infrastructure to burn it upon arrival. For less energy you can just synthesize hyrdocarbons from the hydrogen and ship that. Or utilize the hydrogen to directly smelt Australian iron ore into steel and export that.
They are not cost effective we export coal why not burn it ourselves . there is something wrong in Canberra it stinks of corruption
@@usausa2390 You are obviously blissfully unaware of the challenges faced by the planet primarily caused by carbon emissions !
@@TonyWhite22351 tell what is your solution
Thanks! If you didn't post this, I would never have known about this borderline insane megaproject!
Agree ... Insane ...
I actually found it out on wendover productions or his friends lol I don't even remember which channel
it just cable, we dont change the flow of the river or bore through a stone mountain so ship can pass through it like the norwegian did.
@syanin dita Yeah, good point !
not just borderline insane, but truly insane. still, if it happens, some people will get very rich while the Australian taxpayers will suffer the consequences, though they wont suffer as much as the Uyghur slaves in the Chinese solar panel factories.
No one in their right mind thinks this will use Australian made products.
Another big advantage of HVDC between countries is that you don't have to synchronise their grids which you can't even do if you're going between a 60Hz and 50Hz country.
_"All this for using more ACs."_
~Kento Bento
I like the idea of using a desert area as a major source of solar power. However, did I miss any mention of the risks of placing an undersea cable directly along the line of some of the highest seismic activity in the world?
Egypt thought about it and came to the conclusions it's stupid. They opted to build NPPs instead.
You like it but solar panels need water to cool. Deserts don't work.
Yes Pass by the ring of fire.
@@CountingStars333solar photovoltaic panels don’t need cooling. There’s plenty of them out in some of the hottest places on the planet.
So destroying thousands of Sq kilometres of desert doesn’t bother anyone these area are not devoid of life and are often more sensitive
An important point you miss here is that the per km transmission losses for an HVAC cable are much higher undersea than they are on land, which is not so for HVDC. So the breakeven distance for HVAC vs HVDC is FAR shorter underwater than on land. Basically noone builds underwater HVAC cables for more than a few kms - more than that and you need HVDC.
Now dessert counties actually have a resource in abundance to export,sun
Australia gives it all away for free
If Australia wants to become co2 neutral using solar panels they would need a land area four and a half times the size of their country; professor Ian Plimer has crunched the numbers. I hope he sees this video he will have a good laugh.
@@Johnsmith-zi9pu a house can be fully self sufficient from solar just make it compulsory to build a house without it , but the government can’t steel your money so they would try to charge u tax for your panels yearly
Dessert counties (sic) have always had it sweet
@@trentbrady8829 Fully self sufficient???? A fully self sufficient house and that includes cooking, heating etc.would require a quarter of an acre of solar panels and a shed full of toxic batteries.It's clear you have no understanding solar.
Tengeh floating 60 MW
All Solar planned 2 MW
Singapore thermal installed capacity 12000 MW
NT Australia 10000 MW
Area occupied 12000 ha or 120 sq-km
SG area 720 km
This is huge, huge. John is not ignorant.
Guys, focus. It’s about renewable, not nationalism.
Deeply indebted to John for making this great video.
A Q: If SG imports from 10 GW NT plant, what will happen to the local gas fired plants?
The moment you realize.. your friend prefer to ask for help from someone across the room, instead of asking you who is their neighbour..
Singapore’s neighbor s**ks
yes I am a proud Malaysian
Malaysia s**cks as everyone knew it
not only that Australia gets the most amount of constant sun light
Well, when the neighbour loves and had histories of using natural resource to threaten.
dont mention indonesia
AC/DC's Big Balls ...my balls are always bouncing to the left and to the right (Bon Scott)
I think a bigger problem with AC, especially underwater, is that the cable forms a capacitor with the surroundings and thus there is an AC current to ground. The longer the cable, the bigger the capacitance, the higher the loss.
If anybody is interested, Singapore is supposedly not well-suited to wind power, with low-to-intermittent wind speeds (2 meters per second) where commercial turbines supposedly operate at 4.5 meters per second. Also the waters around Singapore are busy shipping lanes, so there supposedly aren't actually that many places to put the wind turbines.
From my memories, there are hundreds of islands around Singapore easily house wind turbines. But your right, not much wind there.
@@itchyvet hundreds of islands? Whoops....I did not know Singapore purchased Indonesia?
Interesting.! I would have thought that wind would be plentiful !
The Tasmanian cable failed because Bass Link cooked it by pushing it to it's limits to sell Hydro power to the mainland when prices were high. We would usually be OK for our power here in Tassie as we have heaps of hydro and wind power, but there was a drought on and they had run the damns down to risky levels. Although we have a backup gas generator it would not have coped, so Hydro Tasmania had to import a heap of contingency generators to guarantee supply (I knew the guy who was organising all this and it nearly killed him with the stress). Singapore would be well advised to have a workable back up plan if their cable from Oz failed.
I think they said 20% of total power so it actually would improve the diversity of the sources of supply but they would need some excess capacity to allow for failure in any of their sources including this one.
That is why the Gordon below Frankiln should have gone ahead. And it will sometime, when idiot Brown is dead, you watch, if you are still alive by then! How grows the Tassie population ?
So, all the Hoo Ha surrounding the Dams issue ( '"'Let the Rivers Run Free".... B. S. ) will, sooner or later be overuled by some 'progressive' govt. some day wanting to generate clean power for a burgeoning population of immigrants who won't care a twig for all Browns bull !
So, what do those 'contingecy generators ' run on; clean hydro - generated electrical power? Or poluting Diesel Fuel ?..... A Pyrrhic Victory perhaps?
Singapore will be getting some solar power from Indonesia Batam.
Love the subtle quips! Oh, and a darn good story as well. Keep up the great work please!
Yep. Speaking as an Australian though I'm sorry to see our massive platypus export industry replaced ...
@@kenoliver8913 𝐋𝐎𝐋
Going back through your older videos, interesting to note that earlier this year the plan fell apart.
hello Jon at Asianometry,
I have been listening for a long while and, thank you. I have learned much and see some things differently. I enjoy your work, please, keep at it.
Thank you for your effort in delivering such a good presentation! Allow me to point out a minor detail, in that ABB did not exist in 1954. ABB is the result of a merger of Swedish ASEA and Swiss Brown-Boveri companies much later in the twentieth century. Cheers!
Thankyou, as I did not know of the history of that merger, and had wondered why I never hear of those two parent companies anymore !
great video on a really interesting yet unexplored topic! I'm from Singapore and rooting for the success of these renewable energy projects - hopefully we can sort out the technical and political issues.
I've spent a fair bit of time in Singapore over the years, and loved it. However, maybe Singapore can start using less electricity...? Maybe Singapore could import cheap electricity from its neighbours instead....?
@@cerealport2726 If Singapore thinks it is more economical to import solar power from all the way from Australia instead of its neighbors, I think that says all you need to know how "cheap" the electricity is from its neighbors.
@@exoticredtadpole2713 They mostly use gas to generate electricity now, imported from their neighbours. It's cheap, certainly cheaper than building an interconnecter many times longer than the longest ever built, and only able to deliver 2.2gigawatts.
You're obviously of average to low intelligence, and certainly not an engineer or scientist if you think this project is viable financially, or logistically.
This is a very good video particularly in explaining HVDC high voltage direct current transmission which most people know nothing about I think.
TIME WE STOPPED THE BULLSHIT BEHIND WHY: The real reason behind this Singapore owns more of Australia than Australia www.crikey.com.au/2007/05/02/singapore-owns-more-of-australia-than-australia/
Here’s a list of Australian commercial assets controlled by the Singapore Government:
Optus: $10 billion
Alinta energy assets: $4.3 billion
Victorian electricity transmission monopoly: $2 billion
Old Texas Utilities Australian portfolio: $5.5 billion
Property: $2 billion
Australand stake: $1 billion
Total: $22.8 billion
The Singaporeans prefer to play down the scale of their Australian assets, but this little country of 4 million people has left us for dead when it comes to national savings and global investments. It will be interesting to hear what Peter Costello and John Howard say when the question is put to them about the Government’s residual commercial assets being less than those held by Singapore.
@@roxyview Yes they are the sixth largest foreign capital investor in australia
Wow, that's pretty amazing. I wonder why it wasn't politically possible to have the solar/battery farm built in nearby Malaysia or even Indonesia?
Australia vast desert is the perfect fit for solar farm, hot and dry help keep the maintenance low. And of course Australia is friendlier than muslim countries.
@@iamgreat1234 lol
_" possible to have the solar/battery farm built in nearby Malaysia or even Indonesia?"_
I agree, it sound "complicated" and really Australia could use all "green energy" they can produce by themself and not export it, Australia have the highest CO2 emissions/capita in the world among "major" countries, even worse than the USA
this project delivers 20% of Spore total demand. Malaysia and Indonesia could also have similar projects to contribute some share and spread the risk and enhance regional integration. great topic.
@@iamgreat1234 no they just want our resources, only way they will colonize Australia is after they kill every single one of us and our allies and china knows it will be a cold day in hell before that happens, they have 2 chances, buckleys and none.
A good book on laying underwater cable is by John Steele Gordon, "A Thread Across The Ocean" on the first laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable, about 170 years ago. Same problems with cable and deep seas.
TY!
1:40 underwater cable line AC/DC
2:10 how?
5:00. Converter/inverter
9:45 cables, exponential
10:55 $$$
How expensive are either 1) Singaporean electricity, and 2) Indonesian land to make this economical? You'd think it would be far easier to make a profit from supplying solar to Australia, or building solar plants in Indonesia (it's not cloudy all the time), or to sell the electricity to Java and save thousands of miles in undersea cables
Indonesian monsoon. (Even the Darwin monsoon is a problem.)
Means you need storage for a lot longer.
How does selling power to Java solve the power problem in Singapore?
Exactly, coupled with aboundand Geothermal Energy in Indonesia there shouldn't be a problem for a shortend Sea Cable. Except, politics. Maybe Singapur doesn't like Indonesia OR it's a media stunt. Singapur and Australia are far more advertisable than Indonesia.
@@juliane__ indonesia best friend singapore
@@juliane__ Recently a Singapore public media published an anti/pessimistic Indonesia nuclear power source propaganda video. Instead of supporting their neighbor country or providing neutral insights from technology view, they just went stamped whole nuclear power technology as bad and all Indonesians as incompentent developing country people from politics and conservative environmentalist views. Little did they know, Indonesia is going to harness the safe thorium nuclear energy commercially by 2028 according to the current blue print. The nuclear power plant will be built in Bangka Belitung area which is really short to Singapore. In that video, they also worshiped solar energy as an only viable option. They neglected the geothermal potential completely.
It's clear that they don't like us.
Also the estimated electricity selling price from the thorium molten salt reactor is 0.7 cent/kWh and the current existing geothermal plant's is 6-9 cents/kWh. I wonder how cheap this Aussie solar electricity from the so-called Sun cable, not even counting the high sabotage risk on this long cable. The line must be very hard to break and very efficient to transport the electricity in 4500 km distance eh
Great video explaining from the technicalities to the economics of the project.
Seeing that Indonesia is along fault lines, any idea how earthquakes might affect it?
There is only one vault line that it passes through, that is the one south of timor. Other than that, i’m sure it’s quite safe
@@hwinangkoso Put a bit of slack in the cable to allow for ground movement. I'm sure they know about it and have worked it out.
I stack my solar panels electrically to double the voltage and minimize transmission losses. Probably not making a huge difference even with my extra long coiled wire that needs to be trimmed to a reasonable length, but at least they kick on earlier and off later.
Very informative video. Thanks so much for sharing! ❤❤❤
Australia is the Saudi Arabia of solar power resource. Greater than Amazon in reducing CO2 emission.
The most informative video I've seen, examining assorted aspects of the proposal. Well done!
yes, it shows what a scam this project really is, well done!
I enjoyed the presentation, the jokes and the ironic asides. Good work.
The whole thing was a joke!!!
I lived in Singapore many year ago, during that time, many private residences were being built. If each of these private residences were fitted with a 10 kilowatt solar system feeding into the grid, they would not be in the dire straights with electricity they are. Moreover, going down that road, they are not reliant on anyone else and cannot be held to ransome. Reports I have read suggest power from this proposed solar farm in Australia would be used to manufacture hydrogen which can then be exported and used for varius uses.
How many of those residences have 50sqm of suitable roof for the 10kw of solar?
"A few rooftop solar panels on residential buildings. That is about it." - this statement is absurd. You certainly have not heard of Singapore's largest floating solar farm covering 45 football fields on our reservoir. It is also expected to reduce carbon emissions here by around 32 kilotonnes per year, the equivalent of removing 7,000 cars off Singapore's roads.
Only remove 7000 cars off the road, u also dare to cry father cry mother!!!
he is a foreigner. why dont you make videos instead and expect to know everything
The one that only generates 60MW? Haha...
'football fields on a reservoir ' sounds intriguing......
Australia is like a great big solar panel for South East Asia.
There is China and other countries near to Singapore and they will also compete... Otherwise just convert hydrogen from Africa/asia to electricity..
@@abrame8750 actually if you look even more closer than you'll know that there are a lot of other mines as well and they need to be developed.
@@arminius6506 I live in Western Australia, there's heaps of mines everywhere out in the country. nickel, bauxite, gold, lithium, iron... It's all being dug up and shipped overseas.
Like which other viable alternative is there?
TIME WE STOPPED THE BULLSHIT BEHIND WHY: The real reason behind this Singapore owns more of Australia than Australia www.crikey.com.au/2007/05/02/singapore-owns-more-of-australia-than-australia/
Here’s a list of Australian commercial assets controlled by the Singapore Government:
Optus: $10 billion
Alinta energy assets: $4.3 billion
Victorian electricity transmission monopoly: $2 billion
Old Texas Utilities Australian portfolio: $5.5 billion
Property: $2 billion
Australand stake: $1 billion
Total: $22.8 billion
The Singaporeans prefer to play down the scale of their Australian assets, but this little country of 4 million people has left us for dead when it comes to national savings and global investments. It will be interesting to hear what Peter Costello and John Howard say when the question is put to them about the Government’s residual commercial assets being less than those held by Singapore.
Honestly, i am fully behind the idea of SG building its own nuclear plant. Let's just place it on one of the offshore islands near Indonesia :)
On another note. Yes Singapore would not have the land mass to implement solar panels but it is surrounded by water. Makes a lot more sense to develope tidal currents to develope power. The water is always moving
Can't believe I just found this channel. Awesome topic
Windmills don't take up much space,
they can even be installed offshore; each windmill can generate10000W of power
Sounds unbelievable. The cable costs must be horrendous. Unless Singapore has thrown its lot in with the 5-Eyes and Canberra sees Singapore as its forward post.
dont like this idea.....the cost of laying those submarines cables will be borned by consumers?
@@sampono1962 turns out the costs of climate change will also be borne by consumers... Singapore has to reduce carbon emissions somehow. Not a lot of good options besides this and maybe setting up more partnerships with Malaysia/Indonesia.
Singaporea dont needs australia 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@ritzmayj2672 Are you a geopolitical and resource management expert? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Imagine singapore will be forever dependent on Australia for Electrical power sourcr
The losses on AC transmission through cables are much higher than the calculation here. Due to the physical proximity of the conductors in a sea cable, they have a very high capacity. A 4000km cable would have around 0,4mF capacitance, resulting in a reactance of around 10Ohms at 50Hz. Its basically a dead short. There is basically nothing arriving at the other end.
Considering that Australia is basically the prime source for uranium in the world, it would’ve made a lot more sense for Singapore to invest in small modular reactors instead.
Where are they? A bit like fusion power, pie-in-the-sky !
knocked this out of the park man, well done
Indonesia has lots of geothermal electricity potential and it's way closer to Singapore than Australia. And geothermal runs constantly so no storage would be needed. Wouldn't that make more sense?
Indonesia is the 2nd biggest producer of geothermal energy. First and foremost thing we do is use all that energy for ourselves (275 millon of us).
Appreciate 8:06 give the north islands power comes from south island hydro generation. Most people live in New Zealands North Island and most electricity comes from the South Island. So a HVDC cable connects the two islands.
Technically the idea is sound. This type of cable has been done elsewhere so prior examples do exists. Australia also have a very real advantage in terms of land and sunny weather. This is likely to work well. From a texhnical standpoint. Whether it works politically or economically is another matter.
Deliver cheap power along the way.
I found your video very interesting with many things i didnt yet know, thank you :)
as a note: there is some "not so loud but still hearable" background-noise when your mic is recording. but I`m not sure if its easily fixable still.
Singapore could become very dependent on this distant power supply, and if the cable is damaged, it could take months and millions of dollars to repair.
@@Bobspineable They can only get power from countries that have excess capacity and are willing to sell it to Singapore.
Probably because there is a lot they don't want Australians to know: TIME WE STOPPED THE BULLSHIT BEHIND WHY: The real reason behind this Singapore owns more of Australia than Australia www.crikey.com.au/2007/05/02/singapore-owns-more-of-australia-than-australia/
Here’s a list of Australian commercial assets controlled by the Singapore Government:
Optus: $10 billion
Alinta energy assets: $4.3 billion
Victorian electricity transmission monopoly: $2 billion
Old Texas Utilities Australian portfolio: $5.5 billion
Property: $2 billion
Australand stake: $1 billion
Total: $22.8 billion
The Singaporeans prefer to play down the scale of their Australian assets, but this little country of 4 million people has left us for dead when it comes to national savings and global investments. It will be interesting to hear what Peter Costello and John Howard say when the question is put to them about the Government’s residual commercial assets being less than those held by Singapore.
The big issue isn't transmission but storage. The video skims over nightfall. So what happens when the sun sets in Australia? Zero electricity traveling down the Sun cable. Singapore will still need power. Despite skimming over this, it is simply not possible to build any lithium battery large enough to cover for Singapore's nightfall sorry. Adelaide Australia installed the then world's largest battery in 2017 (Hornsdale Power Reserve). That battery can only power the city of Adelaide for 10 minutes. Singapore is 4 times the population of Singapore.
you make great videos my man, keep it up
DC is even more advantageous under salt water because salt water conducts and a changing current will produce changing magnetic field which induce currents in the sea water. This costs energy.
This is a reason why the cable across the English channel is DC even though it is relatively short. There are other advantages involving not having to synchronise the grids.
1 million VAC subsea is the way to go. It's been implemented onland from Moscow to Siberia in 1989. The challenge is subsea earthquake around Indonesia Island.
If I was a Singaporen investor, I would invest in Kalimantan Indonesia instead.
JD yours is the best suggestion so far.its cheaper,nearerncarries less risk.
Better HVDC. AC is not good for long underwear cables.
Others have suggested that too, I suggest checking out the video at 14:13 and comparing the amount of sunlight Kalimantan receives compared to Australia, then Googling "Kalimantan weather report". To talk the investors out of building that undersea cable you have to convince them it is more expensive than building the solar farms five or more times bigger to produce close to same amount of energy.
Earthquakes _might_ damage the cables, daily tropical storms _will_ cause problems for solar and wind power. Maybe they should look into geothermal and tidal energy instead.
1. Subsea cables cross tectonic boundaries all over the world.
2. And put the rainforests in Kalimantan at further risks when they are already in great danger? No way.
@@huaiwei Oh yes, that too. Australian Outback can easily fit these huge solar farms and the local environment would probably thrive with the shade they give. On Kalimantan you not only have to cut down the forest, but because the tropical weather reduces the amount of available light you actually need to build at least two farms to match the one proposed for Australia, meaning more forest needs to be cleared...
But it gets better, as just about only way to calm down the people who would protest this project is to promote how it produces clean energy... Oh, wait...
So next you would have to cut down even more rainforest to build more solar farms so the locals can get clean solar power too.
Also, cutting down rainforests tends to cause erosion so the solar farms might get washed away by floods or destroyed by a landslide.
Sad facts.
-At best you get 10h (in summer) of usable solar energy per day.
-Battery storage is rubbish, only real storage is pumped hydro
-A problem mining companies have come up against when installing solar farms is dust. Basically to have to be constantly cleaning the panels out there. With even small dust layers dropping output 15-20%.
-Solar Cells are really only good (in a commercial sense for ~
Only 5-6MW of nuclear power for 10billion dollars?
25 years for solar panels.
Japan is working on a similar project, but the electricity generated in Oz is first converted to Hydrogen, then compressed, and shipped to Japan. There the procedure is reversed to supply electricity.
I wonder how Australian folks feel about the potential destruction of their homeland over these types of projects. A quote I learned years ago definitely applies to these types of projects: "The Law of Unintended Consequences."
Not sure how that differs from mining sites, given these solar panels are built in very remote and desert areas; away from cities.
@@MsEverAfterings Exactly, while not all of them are remote as the one in the video, most are in the middle of nowhere and are usually built on depleted and nonviable ex farming land for the ones somewhat near population. Nearly all the big ones are out in the middle of whoop whoop. My friend has worked on a number of these solar farms in Aus and most are literally nowhere on inhabitable land.
Have you ever been to Australia? Obviously not; if you had you would know that there is a whole lot of nothing outback with no people and thousands of square kilometers of semi-desert ! If anything, those solar panels will provide shade and moisture for a little more life to form/colonise the area !
This has since been scuppered. A new hydroelectric supply interconnection project has been inked between Sarawak in Malaysia and Singapore slated for commercial operations in 2031. This project includes installing around 720-km-long undersea HVDC cable connecting Tondong in Sarawak to Changi in Singapore.
Damn, that shark joke came outta nowhere and had me laughing out loud. Thanks for that 😃 and this excellent, informative video.
And the Platypus one :)
About the battery storage: I think it should be postponed in favor of building more solar panels sooner. Limiting industrial and home appliance energy use is a more effective way of balancing the electrical grid at night, compared to storing the energy in a battery.
The energy storage battery is essential for electricity 🔌 to be available 24/7. These panels laid out will cool the Australian desert a bit. Hopefully every panel should also be fitted with air to water extractors. The water can be used by the community nearby to grow trees or tree saplings developing a fruit forest or a fruit jungle...
Gee, I wonder how much battery storage it would take to carry the grid for 24 hours.
These are being built in the desert. There is no water in the air and no nearby community.
China has already built over 26000 km of UHVDC cables at an average cost of
Indonesia has volcano mountains. Steam can be used to generate electricity.
I am Indonesian, but didn't find much engineering, can you introduce me to geothermal engineering?
What's your point?
Anything to do with transboundary is very difficult to do. For Singapore there are many available sources of renewable nearby. They are unable to tap it. There was a similar plan to tap into the Sahara Desert to supply energy to Europe, Never get the go ahead. It is cheaper to get energy source nearby. You have not take into consideration how much Singapore is willing to pay and the type of arrangement, take and pay etc. Singapore is not going to guarantee you take or pay. A power company in Singapore went bankrupt as a result of fluctuating in demand. A dream.
I read recently that solar panels are more efficient if they are cooled by floating on water. IF true, they might be better to make a closer floating farm.
Singapore is on a major shipping lane, it's not possible here
We have recently built the largest floating solar farms on our reservoir, and one on the straits of Johor.
Another one is being built in Batam and will generate energy for both Batam and Singapore.
And I don't know that it would survive the first typhoon ...
Relying on a 2300 mile international undersea cable to power Singapore is the very definition of "massive risk".
This is a great project that just makes sense. I would imagen that the biggest problem tough is geopolitics.
What aspect of Geopolitics? That would have already been sorted.
@@juniornutshell Geopolitics as in Indonesia would be the problem... if ever there's one. Otherwise, the only other foreseeable problem is the ever present islamic terrorism which has been wrecking havoc worldwide.
If Indonesia isn't happy with SG they can also "potong" Singapore's power supply, or make it difficult for maintenance operations to take place. Just like what mahatir threatened to do with the water supply in the past.
@@juniornutshell Singapore's government is slightly racist to people nearby...... like imagine if in USA we took all mexicans and put them into government housing and wouldn't let them pick where they live. That level racism.
The government has also murdered hundreds of people from other countries who do things such as have a plant on them. A few of them being from Australia. I am shocked Australia would agree to such a plan.
@@MoonLiteNite I honestly have no idea where you're getting your sources from.
In regards to the 'murdering', the death sentence has always been reserved solely for drug traffickers(large amounts). Those found in possession(minor quantities) are always sentenced to rehabilitation instead.
Drug traffickers are aware of the risks involved but choose to do so regardless due to higher prices in Singapore
It is not a few rooftop solar panels. It is all over the island roof tops of public housing and solar panles floating on the reservoirs. Hope to reduce reliance on fossil fuel. In addition, SG pipe in low cost NPG from Indonesia. It is too costly to lay that Sun Cable from Australia..
The arbiter is definitely the best arbiter of arbitration.
Also I'm really enjoying your videos
He did help resolve a nasty legal battle between the Covenant and Humanity, I'd hire his firm anytime!
@@MrMattumbo That's true but it required some Brute force
@@davidpendleton4464 I like my arbitors to work for their money, can't have them get lazy or they're no better than lawyers ;)
Bonus points when they decide your counterparty is a heretic and run an energy sword through their chest, best resolution ever!
can't argue with that verdict
There were similar ideas to bring solar energy from the Sahara to Europe. The distance is smaller. But there are settlements. In Australia, there may be Aborigens.
Project of generating power in Africa and using HVDC cables to transmit it to Europe has been discarded as non-economical.
The price of solar panels dropped so much that generating power using solar panels in Europe is cheaper than building expensive transmission cables.
I always understood the big barrier to Sahara power was political security. Who on earth would entrust their electricty supply to any North African or Middle Eastern government? This is the unspoken reason Singapore is looking to Australia rather than Indonesia or Malaysia, BTW.
And yes, much of the Sun Cable project will have to be on, or pass through, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land (they are ethnically and culturally different peoples). These days you have to get agreement from them to do that, but judging by mining industry precedents that should be easy - basically promise decent health, education and job opportunities and take their advice on avoiding religious/cultural sacred sites.
Makes more sense to go island hopping in Indonesia. Only need short stretches of submarine cable then.
That would be a lot more complicated both physically and politically
@@user5812 Still might be cheaper
The Basslink cable was damaged due to the amount of power being sent through it, they were running the dams dry trying to get every bit of power they could to supply the mainland. Now all Tasmanians are paying much higher electricity prices because the Hyrdo would rather sell the power to the mainland at a higher price. Also not many people know but the Basslink cable was damaged when it was originally installed. My late father was a power station operator and was privy to a lot of meetings with the engineers at the time.
No SG government agency has spoken or acknowledged it, other than the energy market regulator.
Probably because there is a lot they don't want Australians to know: TIME WE STOPPED THE BULLSHIT BEHIND WHY: The real reason behind this Singapore owns more of Australia than Australia www.crikey.com.au/2007/05/02/singapore-owns-more-of-australia-than-australia/
Here’s a list of Australian commercial assets controlled by the Singapore Government:
Optus: $10 billion
Alinta energy assets: $4.3 billion
Victorian electricity transmission monopoly: $2 billion
Old Texas Utilities Australian portfolio: $5.5 billion
Property: $2 billion
Australand stake: $1 billion
Total: $22.8 billion
The Singaporeans prefer to play down the scale of their Australian assets, but this little country of 4 million people has left us for dead when it comes to national savings and global investments. It will be interesting to hear what Peter Costello and John Howard say when the question is put to them about the Government’s residual commercial assets being less than those held by Singapore.
1. Damage to undersea cables is hopefullly very rare but is always difficult to repair..Was that the Basslink problem?
2. The reason for transporting the energy from Australia is that Australia has lots of solar-exposed space. I wonder how much investigation has gone int finding solar resource closer to Singapore. Offshore perhaps.
It’s incredible that the Australian Government won’t pay/support similar for the Australians that live there, of which I am one.
The consumption of Darwin would be very very small. It’s a tiny town.
We have lots and lots of dry, sunny, hot land in the centre that no one but a few kangaroos 🦘 use. If Singapore can do it in my country, why can’t we!? Lol. Great videos!
It isn'nt Singapore doing it . Twiggy Forest and Gina Reinhart's money ! Don't know who proposed it, though.
We can't invest in infrastructure even in the most densely populated regions let alone the outback
We're doing it!!!
WOuld it not be simpler to generate hydrogen, tranport it in tankers and burn that for power generation?
it need to be continuous becuase i think the singapore will sell some of it to the malaysia and thailand.
Generating hydrogen uses 4x the energy that you get back out.
Cables flow 24/7. A 10% energy loss is acceptable.
Ships need diesel, lots of it.
So, Singapore is going to run an extension cord to Australia.
We did that in Connecticut. Long Island refused the construction of a power plant. So instead, they ran an extension cord from the power plant in New Haven to Long Island.
Hopefully they prepare they cable route with a massive amount of overhead for future powerdemand. Solarpower for all of southeast Asia FTW 🙂
Plenty of room in the sea for more cables. Laying more cables, as needed, would devlop the benefit of redundancy.
@@21stcenturyfossil7 Maybe they should lay two at once while they have the ship and all the gear there doing it !
what makes me absolutely furious is not the fact that "foreigners are stealing our power" or "foreigners are stealing our land" it's not that at all
*takes a deep breath*
It's the fact that our PM is doing his absolute best to push for gas to be used in our country when it's at the highest price recorded and we are trying to phase out coal, a major pollutant and there's Singapore, a small (by land size) saying "yes, F that stool sample" and going with what Australia is really known for, a lot of sunshine in baron hospitable land that grows nothing but twiggy stuff.
I want our country to tax them (fairly) and use that revenue along with bonds and grants to build our own and power our nation and probably New Zealand with this idea, if they are prepared to pipe in electricity from a country that is further to them than China then we should be prepared to have one state sacrifice vast land and get revenue from other states as we connect a resilient grid.
I am embarrassed for my nation, this should have been something that we offered them AFTER WE BUILT THE THING!
That looks crazy, aren't Indonesia and Malaysia much closer? Wouldn't it be easier to produce energy in, say, Borneo ? Maybe it couldn't be solar, but there would be other alternatives, no? Like, say, hydro or wind.
Indonesia doesn't have a desert to create a solar farm and their waterfalls are not that large to create a surplus of electricity. Also Indonesia is more population dense than Australia, so electricity surplus is harder. Australia has a lot of advantages, in addition to other political reasons. Also Indonesia might buy electricity from Australia this way. Note that the proposed route also intersects the places that Australia has major interest. Indonesia still have had to agree though*.
Edit: it's Singapore that hasn't permitted, not Indonesia
Indonesia and Malaysia are frenemies of Singapore. Friendship is conditional and transactional
We have trial to import energy from Malaysia.
www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-importing-eletricity-malaysia-power-energy-13775308
Not one word from our government have been said of this. Other then mediaouts around the world tripping themselves making articles and interviewing the CEO, earning him free PR hype and potential investors.
It has been proven that deals strucked with Malaysia always run into problems. Look at the HSR project of late.
Too many trees need to be cut down for solar farms.
Alternative: Build an island near Singapore. On that island build five 2GW modern nuclear power plants. Or build five islands, each with a 2GW nuclear power plant.
They couldn’t afford the price of Australian electricity - most Australians can’t.
I think it would be a better idea for Singapore to directly invest in off shore wind farms immediately as a stop gap arrangement and mobilize the support of Malaysia, Indonesia and other littoral states for the funding. The project is extraordinary and it would be a testimony for a future link for solar projects in sahara desert and its evacuation into continental Europe.
There's not enough wind near the equator - it's as simple as that.
This would be interesting on how to transmit electricity over such a long distance without losing too much power along the way.
Easy increase volts
HVDC as explained in the video.
i like how the asean map shows singapore as batam
Or Darwin in Western Australia.
12:30 Basslink - It wasn't our fault!
Hydro Tasmania: Were it so easy
Make.you wonder that's why hydro Tasmania sent a guy to Sarawak for this 20 dams they plan to build. Seems easier to build a massive cable than using illegally run govenrment to build massive dams
Indonesia: Hold my geothermal energy!
omg that is a major project great update !
The major flaw in this project is that the underwater cable pass through Indonesian territorial water. You need g to g permission to do that. Instead buying the electricity, they will put high annual fee on it and use the fee to built their own grid.
Not very likely, lots of practical problems. When Basslink got damaged by a dredge, the power went out for better part of year.
Singapore would likely be better off building a nuclear power station, as reportedly Indonesia is planning.
Any nuclear leaks of any kind, the consequences can be devastating not to mention the tiny size of the island. Guess we wouldn't dare to dare to take the risk with a potential Wipeout. 😅😅
@@davidtay787 nuclear is quite safe, but it would probably be a good idea in terms of local politics to build the plants themselves in Malaysia or Indonesia. Not sure of the political feasibility of this however. That said, in terms of energy security local nuclear plants would be best by far.
"damaged by a dredge"? - The cable was damaged by operating outside its specifications. See www.zdnet.com/article/basslink-subsea-cable-outage-caused-by-exceeding-design-limit-experts/
@@bobgroves5777 Interesting, I note another claim is 'cause unknown' (act of God), although that seems unlikely to me.
I saw pictures of the damaged sections and they looked very much to have suffered impact damage, as if they had been struck by something. The accompanying suspicion at the time was a scallop dredge, though of course that was denied by fishing fraternity as it would have meant admitting someone had been fishing in a prohibited area.
@@mrnobodyplays147 waste is generally not a huge problem, especially compared to coal and natural gas pollution. But there does need to be a solid plan for it at Singapore's size. Breeder reactors are one possibility.
Nice video, interesting topic, well researched and well presented. Subbed.
That's a whole lot of work and money for only providing 20% of Singapore's power needs.
Singapore has reportedly passed a law that no single source can provide more than 25% of Singapore's electricity. That spread your risk approach seems to be how they approach international relations. They try to make sure their economy and security is not overly dependent on either the United States or China. Whether they are getting the balance right can be debated, but that's their strategy.
@@shazmosushi why not build a nuclear power plant instead of relying to power import?
@@UltimateAlgorithm Traditionally , no one wants a nuclear power plant in their "backyard" and all of Singapore would be the backyard . Secondary issue is : Where do you store the nuclear waste , some of which will be deadly for ten thousand years ? That would most likely require an international agreement for not only a remote storage location, but the rights to shipping it by cargo ship . Cost to benefit ratio kicks in .
way and way more money, if you think there's no politics friction between Indonesia and Singapore while the lands are neighbor for million of years, you gotta be kidding
@@biketech60 I mean so little space so much power needed, density requirement kicks in. Solar and wind are some of the least dense power available. Nuclear on the other hand is very dense in terms of space to power generated ratio. For the waste, just drill deep down. Create an underground storage space 500 meters or more beneath the surface.
What would be a price difference for Australian solar to create Hydrogen and transport it to Singapoore, maybe using Plasma Kinetics storage method?
Dude why are your videos so good, jesus
I’m an Australian and can’t fathom how our electricity is so expensive. South Australia has the worlds highest power costs alongside Germany ect.
This was certainly true. However with the replacement of expensive gas power plants with new solar and wind, SA now has the cheapest electricity in Australia.
For the last quarter average wholesale daytime power was negative
Would
More economical to convert the electricity in Australia to generate Hydrogen, ship it to Singapore's power plants??
no.
Better is for Australia to abandon our patriotism and sovereignty joining Singapore and call our selves Auscapor..🥴🍷
Wait that is sounds like indian word.. how about singalia.. hmmmm never mind..🥴🍷
The Asian Renewable Energy Hub (a different proposal to the Sun Cable) is suggesting something similar after they changing from their original submarine cable approach. Solar + wind farm in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to produce ammonia and ship that over for "green hydrogen". The Sun Cable company is pursuing the (much cooler in my opinion) HVDC approach. Right now it's all private investors betting on these renewable energy megaprojects, so it doesn't hurt you if their investments fail. I'm glad there are people with the capital and risk tolerance to invest in these really exciting solar farm and HVDC submarine cable approach! For the sake of our carbon dioxide levels I hope they succeed :)
Maybe in the future when Hydrogen can be generated, stored and used more efficiently. Right now the entire process is much, much less efficient that simply transmitting the power directly.
10 billion dollars at 26 TWh (assume 30% efficiency) a year for 20 years. Seems like a no brainer for me. The down side is power is delivered during peak sun light hours, but AU can bundle LNG for a package deal.
A thumb up to explain the AC/DC transmission!
Indonesia should charged toll based on GW supplied.... unless it is asean project, hence all get the benefit...
Its a must for Indonesia to charge over the pipes. Not even a question or suggestion.
Check out New Zealand cook straight lines. Deep and in high current speed area like Bass Straight