❓ This parliamentary question scrutinises the Water Corporation's commitment to generating 400 megawatts of renewable energy, specifically questioning the efficiency calculations for wind farms and the resulting energy supply projections.
AnsweredQoN 155Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
Water Corporation—Renewable energy generation
155. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Water:
I refer to the
minister's partial answers to my questions without notice 84 and 112 asked on
10 and 11 March, about the commitment of Water Corporation to build
an additional 400 megawatts of renewable energy generation.
(1) What wind farm efficiency percentage
is the government using to calculate the size of the contract it will need for
a 400-megawatt supply?
(2) Can the minister confirm the simple
maths that 400 megawatts an hour equates to 3.5 terawatt hours a year of
actual supply, not the Water Corporation's proposed 1.3 terawatt hours?
(3) If the Water Corporation takes an
optimistic view of 50% efficiency, can the minister confirm that somebody will
need to install seven terawatt hours of annual capacity to average 3.5 terawatt
hours of actual energy, which would mean 800 megawatts of nameplate
capacity to deliver the energy required?
(4) If no to any of (1)–(3), how is this
simple maths wrong?
155. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Water:
I refer to the
minister's partial answers to my questions without notice 84 and 112 asked on
10 and 11 March, about the commitment of Water Corporation to build
an additional 400 megawatts of renewable energy generation.
(1) What wind farm efficiency percentage
is the government using to calculate the size of the contract it will need for
a 400-megawatt supply?
(2) Can the minister confirm the simple
maths that 400 megawatts an hour equates to 3.5 terawatt hours a year of
actual supply, not the Water Corporation's proposed 1.3 terawatt hours?
(3) If the Water Corporation takes an
optimistic view of 50% efficiency, can the minister confirm that somebody will
need to install seven terawatt hours of annual capacity to average 3.5 terawatt
hours of actual energy, which would mean 800 megawatts of nameplate
capacity to deliver the energy required?
(4) If no to any of (1)–(3), how is this
simple maths wrong?
AnswerView source ↗
It is Thursday, so I
appreciate the question. I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister for
Water.
(1) An overall wind farm capacity factor
of 37% was used to estimate the Water Corporation's requirements.
(2)–(3) No.
(4) The stated
capacity of a wind turbine is its nameplate capacity; that is the maximum
instantaneous amount of energy it can produce. A wind turbine produces
energy over a wide range of wind speeds. Generally, the higher the wind speed,
the more energy it produces, between its minimum and maximum wind speeds. The
total energy produced over any year depends on the wind speeds at the site
where the wind farm is located. It also depends on the particular wind turbine
selected. The maths is 400 megawatts times 8,760 hours in a year, times 37%,
equals l,296,480 megawatt hours.
There you go! How helpful is
that!
appreciate the question. I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister for
Water.
(1) An overall wind farm capacity factor
of 37% was used to estimate the Water Corporation's requirements.
(2)–(3) No.
(4) The stated
capacity of a wind turbine is its nameplate capacity; that is the maximum
instantaneous amount of energy it can produce. A wind turbine produces
energy over a wide range of wind speeds. Generally, the higher the wind speed,
the more energy it produces, between its minimum and maximum wind speeds. The
total energy produced over any year depends on the wind speeds at the site
where the wind farm is located. It also depends on the particular wind turbine
selected. The maths is 400 megawatts times 8,760 hours in a year, times 37%,
equals l,296,480 megawatt hours.
There you go! How helpful is
that!
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.