SWIS upgrade doubt despite wind farm constraint

Infrastructure WA has expressed doubt over Western Power’s ability to deliver a series of critical upgrades to the northern part of the South West Interconnected System by 2027.

The work includes the installation of power infrastructure linking Western Power’s northern terminal to Neerabup and significant upgrades to the capacity lines connected to Three Springs in the Mid West.

A secondary 132-kilovolt power network is also planned, to improve efficiency of power flows in the region.

Announced to great fanfare as part of a $700 million investment in the SWIS at the state’s Energy Transition Summit in mid-November, the upgrades are designed to support the state’s ambitious decarbonisation plans and connect to energy opportunities in the Mid West.

They will be key to the state realising the full power potential of wind farm assets including Warradarge and Yandin, which IWA said were currently constrained by the network.

The assessment of Western Power’s business case has highlighted doubts over the utility’s ability to deliver the plan in such a short timeframe.

The report, completed in September last year and published today, said the initial business case for the project contained insufficient information to inform an investment decision and highlighted the squeeze on decarbonisation projects.

“The IWA notes that the current business case and expected timing of a government investment decision are impacted by the urgency for grid augmentation works to support renewable energy generation and storage capacity across the SWIS, in response to the upcoming retirement of existing coal-fired generation capacity,” it said.

The state has committed to phase out coal power by 2030.

Infrastructure WA said a whole-of-government approach would be required to deliver the assets required to support the state’s decarbonisation plans.

It highlighted “significant work” being done to facilitate efficient delivery, including a facilitation vehicle to speed up energy investment in the state, but still cast doubt on the timeline.

“Notwithstanding the above, achieving a delivery date of 2027 will be challenging,” IWA said.

IWA noted a more detailed business case was in the works for the plan, which was expected to provide greater detail on the project scope and a more reliable estimate of costs and delivery timeframes.

“IWA suggests that the government considers the outcome of this work before committing to key project parameters,” it said.

No financial impact was outlined in the initial business case. A more detailed business case was expected early this year. 

Despite its concerns around timing, IWA said the project would be key to facilitating progress on several generation projects in the pipeline for the renewables-rich Mid West.

It also flagged that the current system was not making full use of the renewables on offer, singling out Bright Energy Investments’ Warradarge and Alinta Energy’s Yandin wind farms.

“These assets are currently operating in a constrained manner and below generation capacity due to current transmission network capacity being largely utilised,” IWA revealed. 

“Network upgrades are required to enable optimal operation of current and connection of additional generation.”

Infrastructure WA is the independent body designed to inform state government investment decisions on major projects.