Australia's safeguard mechanism is failing to reduce emissions because major polluters are relying on unlimited carbon offsets, according to The Australia Institute.
The Premier’s threat to frack the Kimberley if Woodside’s Browse is blocked is nonsense as he exempted it from his export ban.
Australian taxpayers pay $5 billion a year to miners, including highly profitable giants like BHP.
The state-owned utility needs to replace the generation capacity it will lose by closing down all its coal-fired power stations over the next four years.
State-owned power utility Synergy is seeking planning approval for a 1.5-gigawatt renewable energy farm near Carnamah, a three-hour drive north of Perth.
The Tathra Wind Farm could have up to 140 wind turbines with a maximum capacity of 1000 megawatts, solar panels generating 500 megawatts, and batteries to store 500 megawatts, according to a planning application released for comment by the Shire of Carnamah in mid-September.
The combination of wind, solar, and batteries would allow Synergy to maximise the utilisation of the nearby Eneabba to Three Springs 330 kilovolt transmission line's capacity.
The wind farm would span 158 square kilometres of land across nine farms, whose owners have consented to the development application. The facilities would use about ten per cent of the land.
The tips of the wind turbine blades could reach up to 250m above the ground, the same height as Central Park in Perth, where Rio Tinto is based.
Synergy plans to build Tathra, which it estimated will cost $4.5 billion, in stages. If full capacity is reached, it will be by far the biggest wind farm in WA.
In the meantime, that title will soon belong to nearby Warradarge Wind Farm, which will generate 283 megawatts once the $400 million installation of an additional 30 turbines to add 103 megawatts of generating capacity is completed in 2027.
The Warrdarge expansion will help Synergy replace the generation capacity it will lose when its Collie coal-fired power station closes in 2027. The utility will close its last coal-fired power station, Muja, in 2029.
Synergy would have to develop Tathra extraordinarily quickly for it to be operating before Muja closes.
Peter Milne
Up to one million solar panels will be needed to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. They will be mounted on a tracking system to follow the sun and may be "bi-facial," allowing light reflected off the ground to be used.
The panels will be installed in areas the farmers identified as of low agricultural value, and Synergy will consider designs that allow sheep to graze between the panels.
Synergy declined to comment.
South West WA's power grid reached a record 91 per cent peak renewable energy share in December - driven by 1,225 MW of new battery storage - while wholesale power prices fell 13 per cent and carbon emissions dropped 15 per cent as coal and gas generation declined.
The operator of South West WA's power grid needs insolvent Griffin Coal to keep supplying a vital power station, but if the WA Government won't keep it going, who will?
Andrew Forrest's miner is back to the drawing board to find a new solution that does not disrupt production and can be delivered by 2030.
Australia's most gas-dependent state has flipped from promising cheap abundance to facing expensive shortages in just six years: investors beware.
All the info and a bit of comment on WA energy, industry and climate every Friday
