❓ Mr. Blayney asks the Minister for Environment for an update on the outcomes of the Low Emissions Energy Development Fund (LEED). The Minister provides a positive update, highlighting successful projects like Carnegie Wave Energy and Richgro's anaerobic digester.
AnsweredQoN 718Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LOW
EMISSIONS ENERGY DEVELOPMENT FUND —ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
PROJECTS
718. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the
Minister for Environment:
My question is to the Minister for Environment —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Armadale, I do not want you to feel aggrieved if something happens
to you. I call you to order for the second time.
Mr I.C. BLAYNEY : I
notice the Liberal–National government has supported significant
environmentally sustainable energy projects through the low emissions energy
development fund. Can the minister please provide an update on the outcomes of
this support?
EMISSIONS ENERGY DEVELOPMENT FUND —ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
PROJECTS
718. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the
Minister for Environment:
My question is to the Minister for Environment —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Armadale, I do not want you to feel aggrieved if something happens
to you. I call you to order for the second time.
Mr I.C. BLAYNEY : I
notice the Liberal–National government has supported significant
environmentally sustainable energy projects through the low emissions energy
development fund. Can the minister please provide an update on the outcomes of
this support?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Geraldton for the question. The low
emissions energy development fund, or the LEED fund, is a program that has been
set up through the state government. It exists as a competitive grant program,
providing up to 25 per cent of the start-up capital costs for innovative low
emission energy projects. The reason for the existence of the fund is to help
those projects to develop new industries. It also obviously creates jobs,
including jobs in innovation, in Western Australia. It has been set up to
address Western Australian–specific energy challenges and also Western Australian–specific
renewable opportunities, although many of these technologies are already being
exported to places beyond Western Australia. As a foundation, it is set up to
ensure clean, competitive and secure energy supplies into the future.
Overall, this fund has now supported
nine low emission energy projects throughout Western Australia, all of which
were complete as of May this year, and, importantly, eight of those nine
projects are progressing well to commercialisation and wider adoption of the
technology that has been adopted through those programs. The largest funded
project, which is probably well known to most members in this house, is
Carnegie Wave Energy's Perth wave energy project at Garden Island. Ten
million dollars of LEED funding—the largest single project funded
through this program—was contributed towards the establishment and the —
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
Mr
A.P. JACOB : Yes, and it is a great success, member for Cockburn.
That
was contributed towards the establishment and development of an innovative
technology known as CETO to generate power for Garden Island and to produce
desalinated water through its buoyancy actuators. Project construction has been
completed. Carnegie's three 240–kilowatt buoyant actuators have
operated successfully for over a year now to generate electricity. This
represents the very first grid-connected wave energy array anywhere in the
world. This is a really good example of using a state government opportunity to
invest in industries that make a difference to climate change around the world,
and that is a big part of the ethos behind this project. The success of
Carnegie Wave Energy's project at Garden Island will enable this
technology to be adopted more widely across the world, and I hear that there is
a lot of interest. This is an example of where we were innovating even before
we had a Minister for Innovation. The ethos of innovation has been built into
this government. I do not wish to angle at the Minister for Innovation, because
he was my predecessor, and he did a lot of work in making sure that these
innovative projects were getting up before he was even Minister for Innovation.
A further funded project is in the
electorate of the member for Jandakot. Perhaps a smaller project, but a very
important one, is Richgro's anaerobic digester, which converts 150
tonnes a day of food and organic waste away from landfill, generating enough
power to not only run Richgro's entire plant but also return additional
energy to the grid. Even the carbon dioxide that is emitted is captured and put
back into the blueberry hothouses. Richgro now has the first true zero-waste
renewable energy facility. Again, it is a really good example of bolting
together bits of technology to create a world-leading example.
I am pleased to report that at least
four of the funded projects have led to the development of new spin-off
companies, built around technologies developed as part of the lead program.
emissions energy development fund, or the LEED fund, is a program that has been
set up through the state government. It exists as a competitive grant program,
providing up to 25 per cent of the start-up capital costs for innovative low
emission energy projects. The reason for the existence of the fund is to help
those projects to develop new industries. It also obviously creates jobs,
including jobs in innovation, in Western Australia. It has been set up to
address Western Australian–specific energy challenges and also Western Australian–specific
renewable opportunities, although many of these technologies are already being
exported to places beyond Western Australia. As a foundation, it is set up to
ensure clean, competitive and secure energy supplies into the future.
Overall, this fund has now supported
nine low emission energy projects throughout Western Australia, all of which
were complete as of May this year, and, importantly, eight of those nine
projects are progressing well to commercialisation and wider adoption of the
technology that has been adopted through those programs. The largest funded
project, which is probably well known to most members in this house, is
Carnegie Wave Energy's Perth wave energy project at Garden Island. Ten
million dollars of LEED funding—the largest single project funded
through this program—was contributed towards the establishment and the —
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
Mr
A.P. JACOB : Yes, and it is a great success, member for Cockburn.
That
was contributed towards the establishment and development of an innovative
technology known as CETO to generate power for Garden Island and to produce
desalinated water through its buoyancy actuators. Project construction has been
completed. Carnegie's three 240–kilowatt buoyant actuators have
operated successfully for over a year now to generate electricity. This
represents the very first grid-connected wave energy array anywhere in the
world. This is a really good example of using a state government opportunity to
invest in industries that make a difference to climate change around the world,
and that is a big part of the ethos behind this project. The success of
Carnegie Wave Energy's project at Garden Island will enable this
technology to be adopted more widely across the world, and I hear that there is
a lot of interest. This is an example of where we were innovating even before
we had a Minister for Innovation. The ethos of innovation has been built into
this government. I do not wish to angle at the Minister for Innovation, because
he was my predecessor, and he did a lot of work in making sure that these
innovative projects were getting up before he was even Minister for Innovation.
A further funded project is in the
electorate of the member for Jandakot. Perhaps a smaller project, but a very
important one, is Richgro's anaerobic digester, which converts 150
tonnes a day of food and organic waste away from landfill, generating enough
power to not only run Richgro's entire plant but also return additional
energy to the grid. Even the carbon dioxide that is emitted is captured and put
back into the blueberry hothouses. Richgro now has the first true zero-waste
renewable energy facility. Again, it is a really good example of bolting
together bits of technology to create a world-leading example.
I am pleased to report that at least
four of the funded projects have led to the development of new spin-off
companies, built around technologies developed as part of the lead program.
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