THERE is no doubt that energy is currently one of the most intensely debated topics in Western Australia – with the proposed national carbon tax, recently released state government 20-year plan, and the impact of a growing population and economy on infras
THERE is no doubt that energy is currently one of the most intensely debated topics in Western Australia – with the proposed national carbon tax, recently released state government 20-year plan, and the impact of a growing population and economy on infrastructure capacity all fuelling the discussion.
In addition, the community backlash over rising energy prices, a push from lobby groups to educate consumers about efficient energy usage, and the climate change brouhaha all lead back to a conversation about energy consumption and production.
In the recently released ‘Strategic Energy Initiative’, Energy Minister Peter Collier named four main priorities for energy in WA:
• securing energy supply and meeting long-term demand increases;
• ensuring the reliability of the supply;
• delivering competitive energy prices by developing a market-based regulatory environment; and
• minimising carbon emissions and developing energy production practices that are conducive with sound environmental practices.
Network capacity is at the forefront of the energy discussion in WA, with increasing commercial development, a growing economy, and a growing population putting pressure on grid manager Western Power.
Also in the mix is the renewables sector. Notable renewable projects currently in the pipeline in WA are the $750 million Collgar wind farm near Merredin (due for completion next year), the $58 million Mid West Greenough River Solar Farm (due to commence in March this year), and the $40 million Grasmere wind farm in Albany (due for completion in 2012).
For the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia, the priority is on advocating and lobbying for renewable energy infrastructure development.
One of the concerns Western Power and the Strategic Energy Initiative have outlined is the pressure an increase of energy feed-in will have on the existing network.
According to Western Power, it’s an ongoing process to develop the existing distribution (low-voltage system) and transmission (high-voltage system) infrastructure to make room for new energy capacity.
The company has an $843 million capital expenditure program planned for 2011-12, of which it plans to spend $667 million replacing old assets to improve the reliability of the network.
That figure includes $221.3 million of customer-driven work, such as upgrades for SMEs and school capacity expansion.
Western Power plans to spend $176.3 million on transmission development, which includes $77 million of customer-driven work, including large generators of power such as the Collgar wind farm.
Western Power said transmission expenditure would be focused on supporting state growth while maintaining a secure system and the work would include building new sub stations and expanding existing sub stations where areas of growth were strongest across the network.
The most significant project planned is the Mid West Energy Project, which will come in two stages to link the Perth, Three Springs and Geraldton transmission lines.
WA Sustainable Energy Association CEO Ray Wills said concerns over the feed-in of new energy sources were unwarranted.
“Western Power has said if the (Collgar) production gets to 15 per cent it will cause problems on the grid. I say, let’s get to 10 per cent and then worry about it,” he said.
Mr Wills said the reality was that the WA government was fostering renewable energy development, but not ambitiously and not in a way that encouraged an integrated government approach.
In the ‘Strategic Energy Initiative’ paper the state government outlined that, in order to optimise economic efficiency and reliability of the energy sector, it would integrate the planning, funding and development of energy infrastructure with the economic development of the state, including land use and other essential infrastructure planning processes.
SEAA supports the introduction of a carbon tax as a transitional measure to an Emissions Trading Scheme but Mr Wills said complementary government policies and measures were required for that scheme to be truly effective.
He said an integrated government approach was needed in WA in order for the government’s outcomes to be achieved – innovation in the energy sector, lower carbon emissions and more efficient energy usage by consumers.
“If we are going to solve this it has to be integrated and we can’t just think about pushing one button over here, if we are going to push three buttons over there,” Mr Wills said.
He said the state government needed to adopt a renewable target, which would aid industry development in naturally available energy sources. An energy efficiency target should also be in place to ensure competitiveness in the market, which would drive down costs.
“When I consider what a renewable energy target is about, it is not about emissions reduction, it is about industry development, developing a system of harvesting energy that is naturally available in Australia and creating businesses and jobs around using that resource,” Mr Wills said.
Mr Wills pointed to a recently released Bloomberg report to highlight the lack of investment in renewables in Australia.
According to Bloomberg, global investment into renewable energy reached 75 per cent of the $320 billion total energy infrastructure investment in 2010. Mr Wills said Australia’s investment of 24 per cent of total capital expenditure in energy showed the lack of support for this issue.
“We have the best resources on the planet and we are refusing to invest in them,” he said.
