Energy

The Greens (WA) believe that Western Australia needs a long-term State Energy Strategy that charts a course to a secure, reliable and low carbon energy future. The current pathway of fossil fuel dependence and ever-increasing energy consumption is not sustainable given the realities of climate change and the emerging decline of global oil production.

Goals

The Greens (WA) want:

• secure and reliable energy supplies
• reduced dependence on fossil fuels
• a transition, within this generation, to a low carbon economy based mainly on renewable energy
• a long-term State Energy Plan to help achieve these goals

Initiatives

The Greens (WA) will support the development of a State Energy Plan to 2060 that addresses the following matters:

Stocktake of energy resources

• estimates for gas resources and carbon sequestration sites available to 2060 - including the timeline and life cycles of current and likely future gas field developments in Western Australia
• estimates of coal resources and carbon sequestration sites available to 2060
• estimates of renewable energy resources available to 2060 - including solar, wave, wind, biomass and geothermal.

Forecast of energy demand

• energy demand scenarios to 2060, with and without additional energy efficiency measures
• these scenarios to take into account the remaining life of existing bauxite, nickel and gold mining and associated processing in southern Western Australia, and the implications for gas consumption
• in these scenarios, also take into account the implications of rising oil prices for changes in energy consumption patterns (e.g. increased electricity consumption from use of electric cars)

Transition to an efficient, low-carbon economy

• measures to promote a rapid transition to an energy-efficient economy based on renewable energy sources (see the Greens (WA) Climate Change policy)
• progressively increasing targets for renewable energy
• measures to maximise the supply of natural gas in the transition period, including by reservation of gas for domestic use
• investigation of the use of solar arrays to increase the energy content of natural gas through the “SolarGas” process developed by the CSIRO
• measures to maximize the efficiency of gas use, including investigation of underground gas storage (e.g. in the depleted oil and gas fields in the Perth Basin) to facilitate the use of gas in large scale, hybrid wind-gas systems

Improved reliability in energy supply chains

• vulnerability of existing energy supply chains and the consequences of disruptions to those supply chains
• a cost-benefit analysis of measures to deal with energy supply disruptions, including underground storage of gas, changes to the design and layout of processing plants and the use of standby plant
• the opportunities to promote the use of distributed, renewable energy generation to reduce the risk of large scale energy disruptions
• an audit of existing emergency response plans for energy supply disruptions, and recommendations for changes where necessary.
• a review of risk management practices in the South West Integrated System electric power grid (SWIS) taking account of the need to reassess these as a consequence of the Varanus Island failure, and recommend changes where necessary
• consideration of a reserve capacity mechanism for the wholesale gas market, similar to that currently applying in the wholesale electricity market

Adaptation to the end of cheap oil

• the increasing dependence on imported oil as global production approaches decline and timelines for options to adapt, in a national context
• the mining industry’s heavy dependence on diesel for excavation and ore transport and the wider implications for the industry’s future
• the need to give first priority for remaining oil to agriculture and the food chain while adapting agricultural systems to reduce dependence on petroleum products
• the alternatives to diesel such as liquid natural gas (LNG) in mining and freight transport
• the opportunities for public engagement programs to inform and empower people to adapt positively to the decline of oil (See The Greens (WA) Transport Policy)

Regulatory reform

• whether regulatory reform is needed for the implementation of the State Energy Plan
• as part of this assessment, whether competitive market reforms for electric power and domestic gas supply should be modified in favour of a model with less focus on competitive markets and more on cooperation for the common good (e.g. to prevent information needed to assess energy supply and demand patterns being withheld on the basis of commercial confidentiality).

The Greens (WA) will support the following measures to implement the State Energy Plan to 2060:

• establishment of a Sustainable Energy Council, with an independent budget and chair and representation from outside the public service, to oversee the implementation of the State Energy Plan
• reconstitution of the Sustainable Energy Development Office as the Secretariat to the Sustainable Energy Council