Power in WA's South West is generated by State-owned Synergy and private companies while the State's Horizon Power and miners cover the rest of the State.
WA's industrial greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by four products and a handful of companies, including a few that have managed to keep a low profile in the climate wars.
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.
Rooftop solar will make South-West WA power greener, but there is no path outlined for Collie's future or to net-zero by 2050, according to a WA Government study.
A huge battery in Kwinana will help tame the chaos in the South-West WA power system caused by soaring output from rooftop solar panels and pave the way for more renewable energy.
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.
WA will be coal-powered for sometime and Synergy is working to ensure its Collie power stations can cope with the new world of intermittent renewable energy.
As wind and solar displaces coal the South West of WA will have ample generation, according to a 10-year look ahead, with the growth of electric vehicles being the big unknown.
