RENEWABLE ENERGY
1016. Hon Dr BRAD PETTITT to the minister representing the
Minister for Energy:
My question is to the Minister for
Mental Health representing the Minister for Energy. I refer to question without
notice 988 asked on 16 November 2021 and the response that the ''government
has extensive plans to support the continued increase in large-scale renewable
energy generation in Western Australia'' and the ''multibillion-dollar
pipeline of large-scale renewable energy generation investment in Western Australia''.
(1) Will the
minister please table the details of the ''multibillion-dollar pipeline
of large-scale renewable energy investment in Western Australia''?
(2) What
proportion of new investment will be within the south west interconnected system?
(3) What is the
proportion of renewable energy investment by type—that is, wind, solar
and wave?
(4) Will the ''multibillion-dollar
pipeline of large-scale renewable energy investment in Western Australia''
enable the additional early retirement of coal-fired power stations at Collie,
Bluewaters and Muja beyond the Muja closures already announced by Synergy?
(5) What are the
updated anticipated closure dates for Western Australia's fossil fuel–powered
stations, given the ''multibillion-dollar pipeline of large-scale
renewable energy investment in Western Australia''?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
For your information, member, I represent
the Minister for Energy. I thank the member for the question. The following
information has been provided to me by the Minister for Energy.
(1) Billions of
dollars of government and private sector investment is being pursued, however,
many have not yet been publicly announced.
The following examples can be provided: Synergy's Kwinana big battery;
Project Symphony, a $35 million
collaboration between Synergy, Western Power, and the Australian Energy Market Operator; Horizon Power's Denham
hydrogen plant; Western Power's standalone power system and community
battery projects; Boundary Power, a joint venture between Horizon Power and
Ampcontrol Ltd; the Asian Renewable Energy Hub; Alinta Energy and
Fortescue Metals Group's Chichester solar project; TransAlta and BHP's
Mount Keith solar farm and Leinster battery; Rio Tinto's Pilbara wind
and solar project; Infinite Blue Energy's
Arrowsmith green hydrogen project; and Woodside Energy's Burrup solar project.
Private industry is also undertaking significant decarbonisation in transport
by transitioning to renewable fuels, such as through Fortescue Metals Group's
Christmas Creek renewable hydrogen mobility project.
(2) A number of the examples provided will be
connected to, or provide fuel for, the south west interconnected system.
Other future SWIS projects have not yet been publicly announced
(3) As a large
number of projects have not yet been publicly announced, the generation type
split cannot be provided. However, for the SWIS in general, the government's
whole-of-system plan confirmed that building
large-scale wind energy generation supported by significant storage will be the
best approach to provide both capacity and essential system services to
keep the grid secure. The next iteration of the whole-of-system plan will consider emerging technologies that may form
part of the future generation mix.
(4)–(5) No
decisions have been made beyond those already announced.