The Western Australian Government will work with industry peak bodies to assess how Western Australia’s economy is positioned to compete on a global scale as a clean energy powerhouse.
This will involve conducting an intensive consultation process that brings together the public and private sectors.
Business leaders who attended the Premier’s Economic Resilience Forum highlighted the delivery of energy infrastructure and energy supply arrangements as central to their investment strategies and competitiveness in a dynamic international trade environment.
In response, the WA Government, with support from industry peak bodies will conduct a rapid and intensive industry engagement exercise over the coming months.
“This work reflects the Cook Labor Government’s focus on making more things in WA and diversifying our economy through access to secure, competitively priced clean energy,” said QLD Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.
“I look forward to working closely with industry over the coming months to ensure we can create the right policy settings around energy infrastructure, market rules and the role played by our State-owned energy utilities.”
This process will combine the latest intelligence from key economic sectors with work by the new Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED) to finalise plans for the next phase of energy grid infrastructure and to review the effectiveness of our energy market.
This confidential process will enable government to test its analysis, seek robust feedback and develop a better understanding of how key decisions will affect WA’s future investment pipeline.
The process will feed into major decisions of government to be announced this year including the transmission investment plan for the South West Interconnected System.