Australia's $30 billion solar project, supported by Mike Cannon-Brookes, gets approval

The AGM did give some insight into who Mike Cannon-Brookes is: the Aussie tech billionaire funding the $30 billion Sun Cable, doing the first-ever underwater power cable that is to channel solar electricity from Darwin to Singapore.

That stable of companies, headquartered in Sydney, includes Cannon-Brookes and Sun Cable, which is now mapping out the Australia-Asia Power Link—a 4,300-kilometer undersea cable to pipe more than 20 gigawatts by 2030 from a solar farm in northern Australia and thereby complementing the country's lead in clean energy.

This initiative brings promising returns in economic values for Northern Australia with 14,300 new jobs and a kick to research and manufacturing of renewable technologies. According to the Australian Minister for Environment, Tanya Plibersek, the project will advance the transformation of Australia into a superpower in renewable energy.

However, Sun Cable would still be required to secure final approval from the indigenous stakeholders in Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore. With this, the firm is now in a position to progress to the subsequent phases of the planning process associated with the project and expects to reach a final investment decision in 2027.

That is Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO, today, worth an estimated $10.7 billion according to Forbes. Investments in renewable energy combined with philanthropic efforts that advance the cause of combatting man-made climate change really nail him as a proponent of clean tech, too. Apart from Sun Cable, he has investments in the Australian utility AGL Energy.