The state government will allocate $25 million to boost transmission infrastructure manufacturing and encourage greater local involvement in the electricity grid's renewable refresh.
The state government will allocate $25 million to boost transmission infrastructure manufacturing and encourage greater local involvement in the electricity grid's renewable refresh.
A day out from the state budget, the government revealed it would spend $10 million this financial year to get the ball rolling on a Forrestfield facility, where transmission lines will be built in support of the energy transition.
The facility will be built in consultation with established steel fabrication companies, in a bid to make it fit-for-purpose for the delivery of transmission components to Western Power.
Western Power will be a foundation tenant of a proposed advanced manufacturing and technology hub in Picton, which has received a $5 million strategic industries fund to support its groundworks as part of the announcement.
The state has committed $55 million over the forward estimates to support the hub over the coming four years.
Western Power will also be given $10 million this financial year to support it to engage local content in its procurement process.
“They already use a significant amount of WA contractors and WA content in their infrastructure, but we are going to need much more as we build out the grid – particularly in the South West system,” Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said of the utility.
The facility will support what will essentially be a rebuild of the South West Interconnected System, as the state retires coal-fired generation by 2030.
The investment forms part of the Future Made in WA strategy on which the Cook government won the March state election, and $5.7 billion worth of investment in renewable energy projects over four years.
Ms Sanderson referenced individual businesses in her pitch for the initiative, days after her commitment to work closer with industry on planning for the energy transmission.
“We want our industry to be competitive, and we’ve shown that we can be competitive,” she said.
“Companies like Infrabuild, Civmec – there’s a whole range of really good, competitive companies that already operate in Western Australia.
“We are competitive on not just on price, but on quality.
“We are confident we can build a strong pipeline of work for these companies, not just for the next five years, but for 10 years and generations to come.”
The minister brushed off questions over cost comparisons with other jurisdictions, like China.
“It’s also about what do you value,” she said.
“What do you value in terms of your supply chain, the security of the supply chain, the resilience of the supply chain.
“Sensible governments around the world are investing in sovereign capability – particularly with steel products.
“This is actually about securing our own capability as a state.”
Treasurer Rita Saffioti will hand down her second budget tomorrow and said it would focus on future jobs and economic infrastructure.
The treasurer declined to put a full dollar figure on the cost of transforming the state’s main electricity grid.
Ms Saffioti will then front the Business News post-budget breakfast on Friday morning to discuss the budget.
