It is reported that the Western Australian state government is planning a major initiative to replace the state's current remaining coal-fired generators with wind power, photovoltaics and energy storage. If this measure is successfully implemented, 70% of the power source of the world's largest isolated grid will be replaced by renewable energy generation.
Earlier this week, the WA Department of Energy unveiled a plan to invest $3.8 billion over a decade to build renewable power projects to replace the Muja and Collie coal-fired power stations.
The investment, which will be managed by government utility Synergy, is expected to provide more than 800MW of wind capacity and more than 1.1GW of large-scale battery storage. Synergy has already developed a 100MW/200MWh "big battery" project at the Kwinana power station, which is expected to be put into operation by the end of this year.
The company said that the specifics of the renewable energy and energy storage projects currently being planned have not been finalized, but it will definitely involve the launch of some supporting battery projects, and it is also possible to continue to use the infrastructure of the Muja and Collie coal-fired power stations.
The WA government expects the state to have up to 4.4GW of energy storage capacity by the end of the century, which also includes the state's first pumped hydro project. It is understood that the Western Australian government's goal is to build 400MW to 800MW of pumped hydro storage capacity. Under the WA government's previous plan, the Collie and Muja coal-fired power stations were to close by 2029 at the latest.
It can be seen that traditional coal-fired power generation in Western Australia is being strongly replaced by renewable energy, especially the promotion of rooftop distributed photovoltaic power generation equipment has made traditional home generators less important. More than a third of WA households currently have distributed PV installed, with a combined capacity of over 1350MW.
The growth of distributed PV, and aggressive state investment in large-scale PV, wind and energy storage projects, will help the state reach its goal of 70% renewable energy generation by 2040, with natural gas supplying the remainder , basically abandoning the traditional coal-fired power generation.
