The Corruption and Crime Commission has released its second damning report in less than a week, calling for criminal charges against a former Horizon Power IT manager, his business partner and his accountant.
Iron ore miner Roy Hill has connected its Port Hedland operations to Horizon Power's North West Interconnected System following the installation of extensive underground facilities, which began in 2016.
BN 25th Anniversary series- WA has been slow to introduce private ownership to some state industries, although a series of moves during the Court era generated benefits, according to one prominent WA economist.
A former Horizon Power IT manager and his business partner are being investigated by the Corruption and Crime Commission over allegations the pair billed the state-owned company more than $1 million for services provided by a firm they jointly owned.
Pacific Energy has strengthened its position in the remote power market by striking a deal to acquired Kewdale-based Contract Power Group for $90 million in cash and shares, adding to its existing operations through subsidiary Kalgoorlie Power Systems.
The state government has opened up the Pilbara electricity market to greater competition after privately-owned Alinta Energy applied last year to gain access to state-owned Horizon Power's network.
TransAlta officially opened its new 150-megawatt combined cycle natural gas power station in South Hedland today, with Horizon Power as its sole foundation customer after Fortescue Metals Group backed out of an offtake agreement.
Horizon Power will roll out a $7.1 million distributed energy pilot project in Carnarvon, while the state government has unveiled a trial to incentivise demand management by users during peak periods in Broome.
An employee and a contractor of state government-owned energy supplier Horizon Power have each been charged following an investigation by the state's corruption watchdog into allegations of serious misconduct.
Across the state's major government-owned utilities, more money goes in through subsidies than out through dividends, according to the latest batch of annual reports.
The state government has set itself the target of increasing the number of women appointed to its boards, committees and advisory bodies to 50 per cent by 2019, though it has a long way to go before hitting gender equality at its major trading enterprises.
State-owned regional power provider Horizon Power has recorded a $35.4 million net profit for the year to June, while hitting its targeted reduction of government subsidies more than a year ahead of time.
Former Horizon Power chair Brendan Hammond and MercyCare director Rebecca Tomkinson have been appointed to chair the Pilbara and Wheatbelt development commissions, respectively.
An ambitious multi-billion dollar project to export solar power from the Pilbara into Indonesia would be technically viable, according to a pre-feasibility study released by the Pilbara Development Commission today.
The state government plans to prepare reforms to allow third-party access in the North West Interconnected System, the Pilbara's electricity network, ready for a cabinet decision in March 2018, in a move that would end years of impasse.
Fortescue Metals Group claimed today that a new power station built by Canadian company TransAlta Corporation at South Hedland had failed to achieve commercial production, while the miner also announced it would buy back a second power station it sold to TransAlta in 2012.
Commissioning has been completed today at a 150-megawatt gas power station in South Hedland built by Canadian energy company TransAlta, to power Horizon Power customers and Fortescue Metals Group's operations.
Treasury costings of the Liberal Party's campaign promises have shown the estimates to be reasonable, with the Liberal's plan showing the state getting back to a small surplus in 2019-20.
The state's five port authorities posted substantially lower net incomes in the 2016 financial year but were still in the black by $223 million, according to annual reports tabled in parliament in recent weeks.
Western Australia is emerging as a market leader in the uptake of microgrid technology in electricity markets, with recent announcements by Horizon Power and Carnegie Wave Energy part of broader moves across the sector.
More than half of the electricity used in the Pilbara town of Onslow will be sourced from renewable sources by 2020, with the state government today announcing it will be home to Australia's largest distributed generation microgrid.
Decmil Group has won three contracts worth about $34 million, with two of the contracts awarded to a joint venture established with a local engineering business owned by former Horizon Power boss Rod Hayes.
SPECIAL REPORT: Discussion about a sale of Western Power is taking place against a backdrop of rapid technological change in the sector, as networks brace for an onslaught of competition from battery storage.
A recently opened research and innovation centre at Curtin University is rapidly building interaction between big corporates, small businesses, academia and government.
Treasurer Mike Nahan has said encouraging private investment in the Pilbara electricity grid could reduce its excess capacity and also energy prices in the north west, at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch today.
Horizon Power will trial a new method of charging residents and businesses in Port Hedland for electricity, with the aim of giving customers more control over their power usage.
Western Australia's peak business group has welcomed the state government's budget, but other business groups believed more could have been done for their respective sectors.
Treasurer Mike Nahan hopes to raise $16 billion from an expanded asset sales program, with Western Power and Horizon Power's Pilbara transmission lines now targeted but two other assets unexpectedly removed from the government's sell-off list.
The Barnett government expects to deliver Western Australia's largest budget deficit of $3.9 billion next financial year as it continues to grapple with shrinking revenue and higher spending.
Consumers should expect to pay less for their electricity in the long term as a result of sweeping changes to Western Australia's energy market that aim to slash the cost of supply, Energy Minister Mike Nahan says.
