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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1016 asked in the Legislative Council on 18 November 2021 by Hon Dr Brad Pettitt

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

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.