❓ The Minister for Energy addresses the house on actions to prepare WA's electricity system for a clean energy future, highlighting the SWIS Demand Assessment and decarbonisation efforts, while contrasting the government's approach with the National Party's nuclear energy proposal.
AnsweredQoN 276Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
RENEWABLE ENERGY
276. Dr J. KRISHNAN to the Minister for Energy:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to delivering a safe, stable and secure
electricity system.
(1) Can the minister update the house on action
underway to prepare our electricity system for Western Australia's clean energy future?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how the SWIS demand assessment 2023 to 2042 will assist in delivering a stable transition?
276. Dr J. KRISHNAN to the Minister for Energy:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to delivering a safe, stable and secure
electricity system.
(1) Can the minister update the house on action
underway to prepare our electricity system for Western Australia's clean energy future?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how the SWIS demand assessment 2023 to 2042 will assist in delivering a stable transition?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) That
is an excellent question from a member who has unbounded energy as we all know!
This government is doing what is
necessary to get Western Australia ready for our high renewable energy future.
We have done that by having a careful plan to transition Synergy away from the
use of coal in Collie as the coal plants
cease to have a capacity to operate in the system. It is not well understood by
m any people that for large periods of the year, the coal-fired power stations
are not able to function in the way they are
designed. Sometimes they have to be completely switched off and other times
they have to be run at low capacity
in what is called ''ramping mode'', by which their power output
goes up and down constantly . That is not what they were designed to do.
The government has responded to that with a $3.8 billion plan to decarbonise
Synergy. Many people, including the shadow Minister for Energy, do not
understand that a bigger piece of work is needed, which is the decarbonisation
of industry in Western Australia. I make it
clear again that the $3.8 billion that was allocated to Synergy is for the
efforts to decarbonise Synergy, not to decarbonise the south west
interconnect system. Last year, we set up a task force led by the Department of
Treasury called the SWIS Demand Assessment. That has now reported. I presented
the report to the Australian Institute of Energy with my 220 favourite energy
nerds at the Hilton hotel.
Ms R. Saffioti : That would
have been a great time!
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : It was; it
was a great time had by all!
Ms M.M. Quirk : A charged
atmosphere!
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : It was a charged
atmosphere—thank you, member for Landsdale!
The
SWIS Demand Assessment shows the future, not for decarbonising Synergy but decarbonising
the users of the Western Power network that currently use natural gas,
either as part of their production processes or as a feedstock for the processes—not in energy—and
for the future hydrogen industry that is very exciting here in Western Australia .
The SWIS Demand Assessment shows that we will build an additional 4 000
kilometres of network to bring the high-voltage energy to where it is needed.
This has nothing to do with the $3.8 billion project we are running with Synergy. This is about allowing the private sector
to build the power infrastructure it needs to decarbonise its projects ;
it has nothing to do with government. I know it is challenging for the shadow
minister, but that is what it is about.
It is interesting that not everybody
in Australia supports using renewable energy as part of the decarbonisation
strategy. In particular, the National Party thinks we should go nuclear. That
is its position. David Littleproud is proudly
out there saying that when we retire coal, we should replace it with small
nuclear reactors. David Littleproud has said that the place where the
coal plant is retired is where the small nuclear reactor should be put. I wonder whether the member for Collie–Preston
is aware that the National Party's argument currently is that we should
put a nuclear power station in Collie. That would be news to the
residents of Collie. Is it not interesting that the National Party does not own
its own policy? It does not come out and acknowledge it; it does not talk about
it. Is that because it is a silly policy that nobody supports or is there
another reason that it runs away from that policy?
is an excellent question from a member who has unbounded energy as we all know!
This government is doing what is
necessary to get Western Australia ready for our high renewable energy future.
We have done that by having a careful plan to transition Synergy away from the
use of coal in Collie as the coal plants
cease to have a capacity to operate in the system. It is not well understood by
m any people that for large periods of the year, the coal-fired power stations
are not able to function in the way they are
designed. Sometimes they have to be completely switched off and other times
they have to be run at low capacity
in what is called ''ramping mode'', by which their power output
goes up and down constantly . That is not what they were designed to do.
The government has responded to that with a $3.8 billion plan to decarbonise
Synergy. Many people, including the shadow Minister for Energy, do not
understand that a bigger piece of work is needed, which is the decarbonisation
of industry in Western Australia. I make it
clear again that the $3.8 billion that was allocated to Synergy is for the
efforts to decarbonise Synergy, not to decarbonise the south west
interconnect system. Last year, we set up a task force led by the Department of
Treasury called the SWIS Demand Assessment. That has now reported. I presented
the report to the Australian Institute of Energy with my 220 favourite energy
nerds at the Hilton hotel.
Ms R. Saffioti : That would
have been a great time!
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : It was; it
was a great time had by all!
Ms M.M. Quirk : A charged
atmosphere!
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : It was a charged
atmosphere—thank you, member for Landsdale!
The
SWIS Demand Assessment shows the future, not for decarbonising Synergy but decarbonising
the users of the Western Power network that currently use natural gas,
either as part of their production processes or as a feedstock for the processes—not in energy—and
for the future hydrogen industry that is very exciting here in Western Australia .
The SWIS Demand Assessment shows that we will build an additional 4 000
kilometres of network to bring the high-voltage energy to where it is needed.
This has nothing to do with the $3.8 billion project we are running with Synergy. This is about allowing the private sector
to build the power infrastructure it needs to decarbonise its projects ;
it has nothing to do with government. I know it is challenging for the shadow
minister, but that is what it is about.
It is interesting that not everybody
in Australia supports using renewable energy as part of the decarbonisation
strategy. In particular, the National Party thinks we should go nuclear. That
is its position. David Littleproud is proudly
out there saying that when we retire coal, we should replace it with small
nuclear reactors. David Littleproud has said that the place where the
coal plant is retired is where the small nuclear reactor should be put. I wonder whether the member for Collie–Preston
is aware that the National Party's argument currently is that we should
put a nuclear power station in Collie. That would be news to the
residents of Collie. Is it not interesting that the National Party does not own
its own policy? It does not come out and acknowledge it; it does not talk about
it. Is that because it is a silly policy that nobody supports or is there
another reason that it runs away from that policy?
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.