Squadron backs more rules for green infrastructure

The lack of control and regulation in the renewable energy sector has led to a backlash against some operators in rural communities, but Squadron Energy chair Jason Willoughby says he’d be happy to see more rules.

Jason Willoughby, Chairman, Squadron Energy. Picture: Nick Cubbin

The lack of control and regulation in the renewable energy sector has led to a backlash against some operators in rural communities, but Squadron Energy chair Jason Willoughby says he’d be happy to see more rules.

He says Squadron, owned by Nicola and Andrew Forrest through their investment vehicle Tattarang, is “very open” to the idea of a voluntary developer rating system to overcome a lack of planning. The system was recommended in a major report last year by then Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer who strongly criticised the “free for all” approach to building of solar and wind farms and transmission lines.

Says Willoughby: “We’re really supportive of that – to have some structure and to make sure communities are engaged with properly. We look at it and say, well, there isn’t any regulation in place, but we will demonstrate what is possible, set the bar high and bring the industry with us to say this is what the community expects, and this is what can be achieved. It’s quite a fractured industry, and we have to really engage with communities.”

Squadron is the biggest renewable energy company in the country, with solar and wind interests, including three wind farms in NSW, two in Victoria and others under construction outside Rockhampton in Queensland, and near Wellington in NSW.

It majority owns another company, Windlab, which has been criticised by conservationists and scientists who say a wind farm planned for the Upper Burdekin in north Queensland will harm threatened species.

Willoughby recognises the need to address community concerns but says: “The urgency around the energy transition has never been greater. Often we focus a lot on the climate imperatives, but there’s an economic imperative that’s really important. The reality is, we’ve still got 63 per cent of our electricity generation coming from coal-fired plants, and they’re becoming increasingly unreliable, and what that means is when they are out of service, prices will increase.” Failure to shift to renewables will lock in price increases over the next five to 10 years, but at the same time “we need to make sure regional Australia really benefits from the energy transition”.

Willoughby grew up on a farm in the Central West of NSW and understands the lack of regional transport, infrastructure and other services, such as the internet, which are taken for granted in the city. The energy transition is an opportunity to address some of these “pinch points”.

Willoughby spent two years as Squadron chief executive before becoming chair this year. He had been chief executive of CWP Renewables but switched when Squadron bought it in 2022 for more than $4bn. He previously worked for 12 years at General Electric.

After more than 25 years in the sector, he is aware of the huge shift in attitudes around climate change.

“We are so forward-looking about what’s next, we sometimes forget to look back and see what we’ve achieved,” he says. “Back in 2011-12, I was involved in investing in the very first utility-scale solar project. It was in Geraldton, in WA, and it was 10 megawatts. At the time, it was just like, ‘Wow, look at this.’”

Yet over the past six years, Australia has moved from having 20 per cent of renewable generation in its electricity supplies to 40 per cent.

Squadron provides “firmed renewables” to corporate Australia, selling to companies including Woolworths, the CBA, Transurban and Nestlé Australia. “Corporates are looking for renewable energy as part of their ESG [environmental, social and governance] requirements, and that’s the market we’re looking to serve, not residentials,” says Willoughby.

He says that while wind, solar and battery storage provide the answer, “the last five or so per cent of that electricity mix is going to be gas”.

Squadron has an LNG import terminal at Wollongong to bring gas into NSW and Victoria “to firm up the renewables and get the reliability and the certainty that people expect”.