AEMO welcomes the certainty for the Western Australian (WA) energy market provided by today's announcement from the WA Government on its intention to close the existing fleet of Synergy-owned coal-fired power stations, the Collie Power Station and Muja D Power Station.
The announcement will enable new investment to proceed with confidence and confirms the energy transition underway in WA.
AEMO’s Executive General Manager WA and Strategy, Kate Ryan, said: “AEMO appreciates this early advice from the WA Government about the future of Synergy’s coal-fired generators.
“We will continue to work closely with the WA Government, Synergy, and industry to ensure that as existing coal-fired generation is retired, new renewable generation and storage, including the announced wind generation and battery storage investments, are securely and reliably integrated into the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).”
As outlined in AEMO’s updated Renewable Energy Integration – SWIS Update, the power system is undergoing an accelerating transition to low-emissions energy and greater decentralisation through high levels of Distributed Energy Resources (DER), which are key enablers of the transition to a net zero power system.
AEMO’s CEO, Daniel Westerman, said: “This announcement will be supported through AEMO's efforts to engineer grids that can run at times of up to 100% peaks of instantaneous renewable generation by 2025, with renewables already providing periods of up to 78.6% instantaneous penetration in the SWIS”.
AEMO will continue working collaboratively with the government and industry to ensure WA households and businesses are the beneficiaries of secure, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy.
ENDS