QIC-owned Pacific Energy has increased its footprint in Western Australia where the government is looking to scrap poles and wires and build thousands of standalone power systems in regional areas.

Pacific Energy revealed on Wednesday that it had acquired solar and battery microgrid specialist Hybrid Systems Australia just months after securing a 20-year contract with Horizon Power to build a renewables facility to power the town of Esperance, a supply farming, lithium and iron ore export hub on WA’s south coast.