Western Australia has revealed the scale of investment needed in its main electricity grid to cope with the renewable transition in the face of likely growing energy demand.
This week, the government released its South West Interconnected System (SWIS) Demand Assessment, a first stage in planning the grid upgrades, renewable generation and storage the grid will need over the next 20 years.
The government is also allocating $126 million
“for Western Power to commence delivery of the first stage of network investments”.
That work will focus on the northern, central, southern and eastern corridors of the SWIS.
Industry data collated for the assessment suggested industry demands could grow by 7.2GW by 2042, which would need an extra 51GW of generation and storage to supply it, ten times the generation capacity currently on the SWIS.
The assessment also predicts the SWIS will need 4,000km of extra network infrastructure “to connect industrial users with new renewable energy projects and unlock constrained areas of the SWIS”, according to a media release from the state’s energy minister Bill Johnston.
The SWIS Demand Assessment was a fast-tracked research project launched in August 2022. It focussed on what would be required in network, generation and storage investments to support predicted industrial demand growth.
“An expanded grid is the most cost-efficient way of supporting decarbonisation as it can reach further for wind and solar. The SWIS cannot rely on other electricity systems to support it, so having a strong transmission backbone is critical for reliable supply,” Johnston said.
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The Western Australia state government is to provide funding for a battery energy storage system (BESS) at Collie, already approved by planning authorities, and likely to be built by French renewable and storage giant Neoen, with a capacity of 500 MW and 4 hours of storage (2000 MWh), due to be built by 2025. It will be bigger than the NSW DPIE approved (on 21 Feb 2023), & committed to be built “Waratah Super” BESS in NSW, at a capacity of 850 MW / 1680 MWh.
WA state owned Synergy will also build a 200 MW / 800 MWh BESS at Kwinana, effectively the 2nd stage of the first 100 MW / 200 MWh Kwinana battery that is now working through its commissioning process.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/wa-to-fund-australias-biggest-battery-as-part-of-2-8bn-renewable-and-storage-plan/