Dr. Steve Thomas questions the Minister for Water regarding the lack of renewable energy use and carbon credit purchases for the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant (PSDP). The Minister's response deflects some questions to the Minister for Energy and clarifies the purpose of carbon credit purchases.

AnsweredQoN 663Legislative Council
Asked
11 June 2024
Portfolio
Water

QuestionView source ↗

PERTH SEAWATER
DESALINATION PLANT
663. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the parliamentary secretary representing
the Minister for Water:
I refer to the minister's
answers to my questions without notice 457 and 616 asked on 14 and 30 May 2024
that admitted that in the six years from 2017–18 to 2022–23
inclusive no renewable energy has been used in the Perth seawater desalination
plant and only 47 178 carbon credits have been purchased.
(1) For each of
those years, what percentage of energy purchased for the PSDP was purchased
from gas generation, coal generation and liquid fuels?
(2) Were the 41 178 carbon credits purchased to cover
energy purchases from the five per cent of energy supply not required to
be generated from gas or from the 95 per cent of energy that was required to be
generated from gas but perhaps came from another source?
(3) Why were the carbon credits
required to be purchased?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice
of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister
for Water.
(1) Electricity
for the PSDP was supplied from the south west interconnected system. What
proportion of the supply was from gas, coal and liquid fuels is a question for
the Minister for Energy.
(2) Water
Corporation satisfies the ministerial condition by purchasing carbon credits to
offset the difference between the emissions generated by grid electricity and
what would have been generated if electricity was supplied by a gas-fired
generator for all of the electricity consumed by the PSDP.
(3) The carbon credits were
purchased to comply with the ministerial condition.

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