Power outages a sign of things to come

The Member for the South West and Shadow Minister for Energy Minister Dr Steve Thomas says that the power outages experienced by West Australians over the last week will become more common in coming years as the Government’s energy transition fails to meet the state’s energy demand and its maintenance plan fails to ensure safe and reliable distribution.

“The current plan to transition to renewable energy is underfunded and impossible to deliver on the current timeframes, and the maintenance program for Western Power’s distribution infrastructure is obviously failing to keep up” Dr Thomas said. “We are looking at a future that includes a failure to produce enough electricity and a failure to distribute the electricity we do have reliably.”

Dr Thomas said that closing down all the state owned coal power stations by the end of 2029 will not be possible without providing a genuine alternative supply that is reliable and can keep the lights on, and right now the State does not have a plan to provide adequate and reliable electricity generation, storage or transmission infrastructure.

In the middle of 2024 a report from AEMO said the state might well run out of electricity.

“The market operator now acknowledges that the state may need an additional 4,000 megawatts at a time the Government is closing down 932MW from state run coal generators and expects to lose another 434MW from the privately owned coal generator in Collie” Dr Thomas said.

“On the 18th of February 2024 WA hit its peak in demand at 4,233 Megawatts (MW).  At that peak the state’s gas fired power stations were contributing 2,528 MW of power, or 58% of the power being generated.

“At the same time our coal fired power stations at Collie were going flat out producing 1,364 MW or 32% of the generation.

“Which means our fossil fuel generation was producing 90% of the power the state needed to keep the lights on when the heat was on.

“The peak of demand in 2025 so far was nearly 4,490 MW on the 21st of January, up more than 250 MW or 6%, and once again gas and coal generation were going flat out providing the bulk of out power.

“During this latest peak, the state’s batteries helped keep the supply up, but the Government will need to double the battery capacity in coming years at a cost of billions of dollars, or provide additional gas generation at a much more modest cost as per the Liberal plan, to cover the loss of 1,366 MW of coal generation.

 “It should be obvious to everyone that demand is rising at the same time that the Government is closing down coal generation without a viable alternative to fill the gap, and maintenance is failing.

“Western Australia cannot afford four more years without an adequate and comprehensive plan to maintain power to our businesses and homes.”