Sun Cable, the company behind a massive solar farm and power export project planned for the Northern Territory, has gone into voluntary administration.
The company, whose major investors include billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, provided a vague statement about why it collapsed:
"The appointment followed the absence of alignment with the objectives of all shareholders," it said.
"Whilst funding proposals were provided, consensus on the future direction and funding structure of the company could not be achieved."
The ABC understands that Sun Cable's major investors, Mr Forrest and Mr Cannon-Brookes, had disagreements about the funding and direction of the company.
These included the significant amounts of cash that Sun Cable was spending, and its failure to achieve certain milestones — as required by its venture capital funding agreement.
The two billionaires were leading investors in Sun Cable's $210 million capital raising offer, announced in March last year.
Both men have been vocal advocates for Australia's potential to be a world leader in green energy production.
Cannon-Brookes pledges support
Global advisory firm FTI Consulting has been appointed as Sun Cable's administrator.
The company said it was a "difficult decision" to enter into administration, but said it was necessary to find "additional capital" to fund its projects.
"This will likely involve a process to seek expressions of interest for either a recapitalisation or sale of the business," the statement said.
Mr Cannon-Brookes, who is also Sun Cable's chairman, said the solar project had achieved a lot since it was founded in 2018 and it retained his full support.
"I'm confident it will play a huge role in delivering green energy for the world, right here from Australia," Mr Cannon-Brookes was quoted by Sun Cable as saying.
"I fully back this ambition and the team, and look forward to supporting the company's next chapter."
Frustrated ambitions
Sun Cable has been proposing the world's biggest green-energy export project, with plans for a giant 20-gigawatt solar farm in the Northern Territory that would send much of the power to Singapore via a 4,200-kilometre-long subsea cable.
The farm, which would cover 12,000 hectares — equivalent to 12,000 rugby pitches — would be backed by the world's biggest battery network.
In total, the venture (the Australia-Asia PowerLink) would be expected to cost more than $30 billion.
Sun Cable was aiming to start building the AAPowerLink next year, and start supplying 800MW of electricity to Darwin in 2027.
It was also hoping to be fully operational – and providing electricity to Singapore – by 2029.
