With coal’s demise in WA set, can renewables step up to fill the gap?

Western Australia is falling well short of renewable energy generation requirements and lagging the rest of the country in terms of new projects in the pipeline, according to a new report.

Common Capital’s States of Transition report, released Monday, found renewable generation in WA only provided 25 per cent of the state’s electricity needs and projects currently in the pipeline would only increase it to 32 per cent by 2050.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a visit to view the Collie Battery Energy Storage System at the Collie Power Station during the federal election campaign this year. Storage is one thing, a new report warns, but more renewable generation is needed.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The report, commissioned by a coalition of conservation councils around the country, said the country needed to build renewable energy projects at least 4.5 times faster than the current rate.

“Based on current deployment rates of large scale generation and rooftop PV, Western Australia is falling behind other jurisdictions and is likely to fall far short of future renewable generation requirements,” it said.

The report also found 99 per cent of the 43.5 terawatt hours of renewable energy publicly announced had not gone much further than that, and said WA’s lack of legislated renewable energy targets were hampering investment.

“This suggests that to date there has been less interest from renewable developers and investors in pursuing projects in Western Australia,” it said.

“Some of the initiatives implemented in other jurisdictions, e.g., legislated renewable energy targets, planning system reforms ... could help to increase investor confidence and develop the renewable energy pipeline.”

The report came out the day before the Australian Energy Market Operator launched its latest assessment of the WA’s electricity generation needs over the coming decade.

The AEMO found 1700 megawatts of ageing coal and gas power stations were expected to retire from 2027 to 2032 under the Labor government’s plans to end coal power by the end of the decade.

The WA government is scrambling to ensure it has enough energy to replace those coal power stations.

Conservation Council WA executive director Matt Roberts said a critical first step would be the inclusion of renewable energy and emissions-reduction targets in the government’s pending WA Climate Change Act.

“WA is a national leader in rooftop solar, and we’ve seen a significant amount of electricity generation from it during the peak summer days,” Roberts said.

“While this is a huge achievement, we need to do more to keep up with other jurisdictions across Australia and develop a stable and ongoing plan for renewable electricity generation and storage in WA.

“This report shows that key policy gaps have let us down in the energy transition, but it also makes it clear what we can do to get back on track: namely, committing to ambitious renewable energy and emissions reduction targets.”

A spokesman for WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson painted a rosier picture of the energy transition, and said WA was the only state committed to exiting coal.

The spokesman also refuted the figure of current renewable energy generation in WA.

“Through our more than $6.4 billion commitments in onshore wind, large-scale storage, and new transmission, the Cook Government has already made significant progress in decarbonising WA’s main energy system,” he said.

“That plan has delivered a series of significant wins for WA’s energy system, with renewables providing an average of 36 per cent of electricity needs in 2024, and at times, reaching more than 85 per cent of all electricity used.”

The spokesman said the recently announced $5000 household battery rebate for 100,000 homes would take renewable generation further.

“The volumes of storage that will be activated will have a material impact on WA’s electricity grid – adding around 1GW of capacity and fast tracking us towards our cleaner energy future,” he said.

“These are the real and tangible measures that will see Western Australia become a clean energy powerhouse.”

He said the government wanted its climate legislation to have the same impact, which is why it was taking its time.

However, opposition energy spokesman Steve Thomas said the AEMO report “should be ringing alarm bells for the government”.

“This simply reinforces the message the opposition has been giving for over two years – the existing Cook government transition plan will not work without significant additional investment,” he said.

“Even the market operator now acknowledges that more energy will be required at a time the Government is closing down 320 megawatts from state run coal generators and is doing its best to close another 434 megawatts from the privately owned coal generator in Collie.”

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