SYNERGY — RENEWABLE ENERGY
652. Mr D.A.E. SCAIFE to the Minister for Energy:
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's work to deliver a sustainable
energy future for the state through its significant investment in
renewable energy technology. Can the minister update the house on this
government investment in the state's
biggest battery, and outline how this will deliver better energy outcomes for Western
Australian households and businesses?
Mr W.J.
JOHNSTON replied:
I am very pleased to answer that
question. We have already delivered community batteries embedded into the
distribution network. We are delivering our energy transformation strategy to
make the electricity system take account of distributed energy—that is,
solar panels and other equipment that people put into their own homes. We have the
trial of Project Symphony down in the south-eastern corridor, in the
electorates of the members for Jandakot and Southern River. We also have this
new announcement that the government, through Synergy, has awarded a $155 million
contract to New Horizons Ahead to build Western Australia's largest
battery. It will be a 100-megawatt, 200-megawatt-hour battery that will be able
to power 160 000 homes for two hours. This battery will be operational by the
end of next year and will be an important part of balancing our electricity
system. It will allow us to store some of the excess solar that is being pushed
into the system from solar panels on people's houses and use that to
help deal with the evening peak. It is a very important step forward in the
decarbonisation journey of our electricity system.
I want to emphasise that the
electricity system in Western Australia now has as an objective to decarbonise
the entire electricity system. This battery will be an important step forward
in that process. I particularly want to acknowledge
the $50 million contract to GenusPlus Group, a Western Australian company based
in Belmont. It will have 50 local people working on the project. I acknowledge
that $15 million of the $155 million is a contribution from the commonwealth
government. I note that it is spending billions on the east coast, but we are
certainly happy to have the $15 million co-investment. One in three households
in Western Australia already have rooftop solar, and we expect that to get to
one in two within 10 years. Putting that in context, at the moment, every day
we have one megawatt of additional rooftop solar going into the south west
interconnected system. Just for this year, we will have over 350 megawatts of
additional rooftop solar going into the system.
This
is another important step forward. I encourage the private sector to look at
what the government has done here and
also invest in large-scale batteries. There is now clearly an opportunity to
get rewarded for that type of investment. I want to congratulate Synergy
and its partners in this project.