Coal is produced in WA in just two mines near Collie and almost all of it is used to generate electricity in power stations in Collie. State -owned Synergy plans to shut nothing its coal-fired power stations by 2029.
WA energy minister Bill Johnston sees no current alternative to gas for dispatchable power and wants to use low prices to lure more gas-hungry investments to WA
The WA energy trilemma: Labor is ready to go but don’t mention coal, Liberals want to drop coal but are light on detail, the Greens want to dump gas as well, and they all love green hydrogen.
The Liberals know where to take WA energy but probably not how to do it. Labor is on top of the detail but shy of facing the inevitable. So close to a bipartisan approach, will our political class blow it?
Sumitomo has completely written off the debt-laden Bluewaters coal-fired power station in Collie after paying $600 million for it less than a decade ago
Two new wind farms and surging rooftop solar installation has pushed renewable energy to 35% of South West WA's power in October, mainly at the expense of coal.
South Korea, Japan and China's tightened climate goals will crunch Australian thermal coal, make LNG investments harder and possibly kill Santos' Barossa LNG project.
The first cut at planning WA power's future ignores carbon costs that Woodside would estimate at many billions and comes nowhere near the WA Government's target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
