WA backtracks on coal after power supply warning
The West Australian government has been forced to push back plans to shut down coal-fired power generation after warnings about supply shortages and summer blackouts within the next two years.
The government will delay its planned “retirement” of one the turbines at the Muja coal-fired power station in Collie by at least six months, and there are growing doubts it can hit an ambitious 2030 target to completely wean the state off coal.
WA Energy Minister Bill Johnston says the Muja turbine in Collie will stay online until April 2025. Colin Murty
Energy Minister Bill Johnston said on Thursday that the Muja turbine would stay online until April 2025 after discussions with the independent Australian Energy Market Operator.
In a market update, AEMO warned of big supply shortfalls in WA and highlighted the need for “significant and sustained investment in generation, storage and transmission to meet reliability standards”.
The AEMO update takes into account the government’s plans to shut down the Collie power station in 2027 and the state’s only other coal-fired power station, Muja, in 2029.
AEMO, which co-ordinates power generation on what is known as the South West Interconnected Grid in WA, predicted a shortfall of 945 megawatts in 2025-26 and about 4000 megawatts by 2032-33 without massive investment.
The WA government concession on coal came as it confirmed a long-standing ban on exports from onshore gas projects in the Perth Basin, where there has been a flurry of M&A activity involving Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Energy, Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources and others. The export ban is a key pillar of WA domestic gas reservation policy.
A spokesman for Premier Roger Cook said the government would not make any further export
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