Singapore/Jakarta | Australian energy group Sun Cable will work with Indonesia as it ramps up domestic supplies of renewable power, and could one day end up exporting electricity to South-East Asia’s largest economy as the region inches away from fossil fuels.

The ambitious export project-based group backed by tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes and mining magnate Andrew Forrest was among the companies represented on Prime Minister’s Anthony Albanese’s business delegation to Indonesia this week.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a business dinner in Jakarta on Monday. At right is CBA CEO Matt Comyn. Alex Ellinghausen

As the Australian government this week took a new broom to the bilateral relationship, both sides singled out renewable energy as a promising area for increased trade and investment.

On Monday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo cited his government’s agreement with Sun Cable for the company’s $30 billion-plus Australian-Asia Project to supply solar power from a massive farm near Tennant Creek though to Darwin then Singapore via a 4200-kilometre cable running through Indonesian waters.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) also made reference to Sun Cable’s presence on the Australian delegation, along with Fortescue Metals, as an example of the co-operation that could unlock the potential in the free trade deal known as IA-CEPA.

Shinta W. Kamdani, chairwoman of B20 Indonesia and a member of the KADIN executive, emphasised the need to extend supply chains and create cross-country “industry powerhouses” during a meeting with Mr Albanese and business leaders, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive Matt Comyn, on Monday.

She pointed to soaring Australian wheat exports as an example of this, and said it was important to use IA-CEPA to achieve Indonesia’s national development targets, particularly in areas where Australia was ahead.

“For this reason, Indonesian business welcomes the cooperation agenda brought by PM Albanese in the field of renewable energy which is in line with Indonesia’s G20 & B20 priority agenda and is supported by the presence of Mark Barnaba, deputy chairman of Fortescue Metals Group and David Griffin, CEO of Sun Cable,” Ms Kamdani said.

Sun Cable’s planned $30 billion-plus Australia-Asia PowerLink project. 

Mr Griffin backed Mr Albanese’s call for Australian business and investors – particularly those with skills and resources in renewable energy – to take a closer look at Indonesia.

“Indonesia is a massive market, and we have had this blind spot [about it] for a long time. Hopefully, that is changing now. The Indonesian government very much wants to transition its entire energy supply and Australian companies have an enormous amount of expertise in this area,” Mr Griffin said.

Sun Cable expects to spend $US1 billion in Indonesia during the construction phase of the project, which will run from 2024 to 2028. Another $US1.5 billion will be spent once it is operational, with a marine repair base to be located in Indonesia.

Mr Griffin said these investments would play a role in the “broader green infrastructure” that Indonesia plans to develop, and he believes other companies could do the same.

“Australia has a huge amount of expertise in renewable electricity engineering, ranging all the way from generation through to transmission. I think Indonesia is also very open to working with Australian resource providers to ensure they are capable of enhancing their manufacturing of renewable energy-related products like batteries,” he said.

While Indonesia’s focus for the next decade will be on deploying domestic renewable electricity resources, future Sun Cable projects could include exports to Indonesia, Mr Griffin said.

“We would be very excited about the opportunity of supplying electricity to Indonesia, but I think that’s something for the longer-term. Indonesia will want to exploit its own resources first and develop its own capability,” he said.

The global shift from fossil fuels is still to play out. “The scale of the energy transition that is required is truly unprecedented. Sometimes you hear people using wartime analogies, citing the example of the mobilisation of resources during World War Two.” This was not a good comparison of what we are about to go through, Mr Griffin said.

“It’s just too small. We’re right at the start line. Come 2035, the world will be unrecognisable, from where it is now, for better or worse.

“It depends on how successful we are with the energy transition. This is massive task with many trillions of dollars of capital required. Obviously, the opportunities are also enormous,” he said.

“Co-operation between neighbours will be critical,” Mr Griffin said.

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