SunCable Seals Indigenous Pact for Giant NT Solar

• SunCable seals 70-year ILUA, unlocking 12,000-acre NT solar hub to power Darwin and export to Singapore via 4,300-km cable—after three years’ talks.

SunCable signed a multi-million-dollar, 70-year Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Powell Creek Native Title Holders, the Northern Land Council said Monday, clearing the way for a 12,000-acre solar park in Australia’s Northern Territory. The deal follows three years of talks with more than 200 traditional owners.

The multi-gigawatt solar farm at Powell Creek, near Elliott, anchors SunCable’s Australia-Asia Power Link, targeting industrial customers in Darwin and exporting to Singapore. The project will combine solar, wind and storage to deliver about 4 GW of continuous power to Darwin and 1.75 GW to Singapore via a 4,300-km subsea cable through Indonesian waters.

How will SunCable’s ILUA advance Powell Creek’s multi‑GW solar exports to Darwin and Singapore?

• Secures long‑term land access and consent, removing a key legal/sovereign‑risk barrier and unlocking FID and cheaper finance
  
• Enables immediate pre‑construction works (geotech, cultural heritage surveys, access roads) to keep the export schedule on track
  
• Clarifies cultural heritage management, work protocols, and compensation, reducing risk of delays or injunctions during build
  
• Aligns tenure with asset life and 25–30‑year offtake horizons, supporting bankable PPAs for Darwin industries and Singapore buyers
  
• Underpins permitting for generation, storage, and transmission easements tied to the HVDC export corridor
  
• Strengthens social licence, aiding diplomatic clearances for subsea cable transit by showing equitable Indigenous engagement at source
  
• Improves ESG credentials for lenders/insurers, widening access to green capital and export‑credit support
  
• Supports local workforce and supplier pathways, easing remote‑area logistics and lowering construction risk
  
• Locks in benefit‑sharing/royalties linked to milestones, aligning delivery discipline with community outcomes
• Enables staged build: early solar‑plus‑storage for Darwin first, then scaling to full export as cable sections commission
  
• De‑risks grid integration and system‑strength measures (HVDC converters, synchronous condensers, batteries) for firm, continuous exports
  
• Helps justify enabling infrastructure co‑investment (roads, airstrips, water, training), accelerating delivery and trimming capex
  
• Signals maturity to Singapore’s EMA and large buyers, improving competitiveness in import tenders and cross‑border agreements
  
• Provides a framework for biodiversity offsets and rehabilitation, smoothing environmental approvals over project life
  
• Establishes an ILUA template for future expansions or parallel hubs, supporting multi‑GW scaling beyond the initial tranche