The WA Government’s inaugural “Whole of System Plan” (WOSP) highlights the ongoing role of natural gas to power WA’s way of life.
In all four scenarios of the WOSP, which models the energy requirements of the South West Interconnected System, WA’s principal electricity grid, over the next 20 years gas continues to be used as to provide power and to ensure grid security and reliability as renewable energy power generation grows.
APPEA’s WA Director Claire Wilkinson said: “Gas plays an important role in a low emission future, enabling renewable energy power generation to grow whilst also ensuring baseload power can be provided by gas generation when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.”
The report notes that in 2020 gas remains the largest capacity provider, accounting for 52% of large-scale generation, and one of the ten key findings of the report notes the use of gas as supporting the growth in intermittent power generation, such as that resulting from solar and wind.
“WA is not only blessed by plenty of sun and wind, but also sizeable reserves of natural gas. It puts us in the box seat to lower our emissions but also ensures we have a strong and reliable electricity system to prevent the risk of brown outs or black outs that have beset electricity systems in other states during high demand periods,” Ms Wilkinson said.
“Quite simply, natural gas is an essential part of our everyday lives in WA, powering our homes, school, hospitals and other industries like mining and manufacturing. Supporting the responsible development of future gas resources, including those onshore in Western Australia, will be important to supporting our jobs and economy of the future.”
