The state’s ability to decarbonise hinges on the development of power transmission networks.
Woodside Energy’s management offered frank insight when quizzed in May on the progress of a Pilbara solar farm proposed to ease the greenhouse impact of its Pluto LNG facility.
The 50-megawatt solar farm has been on the cards since early 2022, but Woodside is no closer to delivering the facility and baulked at requests for a timeline on the project’s delivery.
After a lengthy annual meeting at Crown Perth, which was interrupted several times by climate-minded protesters blowing whistles and shouting at Woodside leaders, the solar project was a hot topic.
Woodside’s management expressed a “deep frustration” at the lack of progress on the transmission lines required to connect the proposed project to the Pluto facility.
“I think the bigger indictment is on the complexity of getting transmission built,” Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said.
“We were ready to build the transmission lines ourselves.
“The state’s got a desire for transmission to be state-owned infrastructure, which we fully support.
“We were happy to build it and then give it over to the state, or hand it over in an appropriate commercial manner to the state.”
Woodside said its offer was not taken up.
The government is taking responsibility for the development of Pilbara transmission infrastructure that will facilitate the region’s decarbonisation: a job first slated, according to Ms O’Neill, for the Horizon Power project book and, more recently, tendered out to APA Group.
APA has been tapped by the Cook government to build heavy-duty power lines running through the Hamersley Range and Burrup Peninsula.
The Burrup line will connect Woodside’s proposed solar farm to the Pluto plant, while the Hamersley Range line will link Newman to Port Hedland.
If Ms O’Neill’s comments are anything to go by, the pace and manner of the transmission infrastructure delivery is already an issue for at least one industrial operator in the Pilbara region.
“We kind of don’t care how it gets built,” Ms O’Neill said of the transmission line, levelling responsibility back to the government.
“We just want it to get built so we can cut our emissions at the Pluto site.”
Decarbonisation is at the heart of what could be the state’s greatest infrastructure challenge in the medium term, across all regions to varying degrees.
Even the renewable energy projects that are on existing transmission lines are typically dependent on a network that was not built to support them.
This challenge was highlighted in an Infrastructure WA assessment of Western Power’s plan to deliver critical upgrades to the northern part of the South West Interconnected System, published in 2024.
The paper revealed the Yandin and Warradarge wind farms in the Mid West had supplied energy below their capacity because the power transmission lines to which they connected were unable to support the full load they produced.
“Network upgrades are required to enable optimal operation of current and connection of additional generation,” IWA wrote at the time.
Blessed with sun and wind, the Mid West looms as a new powerhouse in the supply of energy for the state, but only if the existing and planned transmission can support it.
Late in 2024, the then-parliamentary secretary to Energy Minister Darren West told parliament 400MW of existing wind capacity was constrained by the state of the transmission lines connecting the SWIS to the northern region.
Requisite upgrade work is under way as part of the Clean Energy Link – North initiative, which is a push by Western Power and PoweringWA and should free up the constraint while adding an extra gigawatt of connection capacity. The deadline is 2027.
Further north in the Pilbara, where Woodside operates, the challenge is even more acute.
The region is arid; the ground is hard, and industrial activity accounts for 40 per cent of the state’s emissions.
Renewables account for less than 2 per cent of all the region’s power generation.
The state’s desire to build an energy network in support of the Pilbara’s heavy industry is a logical response and will lead to the creation of four corridors linked by common-use transmission lines.
“New common-use infrastructure in the Pilbara will reduce environmental impact by preventing unnecessary infrastructure duplication,” state government messaging on the plan reads.
“It will also enable access to diverse renewable energy sources, support energy security and reliability and reduce the impact of industry on the environment.”
But the pace of delivery is a concern, at Woodside at the very least.
Last December, a ribbon was cut on BHP’s Port Hedland solar and battery project, built by APA and which connects to Port Hedland Power Station.
Fortescue is building a 190MW solar farm at its Cloudbreak mine and runs a 100MW solar farm at North Star Junction, with plans recently submitted for a 200-turbine wind farm near its Iron Bridge mine.
It is among the region’s most vocal operators when it comes to decarbonisation, with a target to achieve real zero emissions from its own mine sites by 2030.
But clarity around the transmission connection between Woodside’s mooted solar farm and Pluto remains a barrier to that project’s go-ahead, and a seeming point of tension.
“Why don’t you ask the premier next time you’re face to face with him at a press conference,” Ms O’Neill said when pressed on why Woodside could not be more concrete about the solar project’s timeline.
In its response to the comments by Ms O’Neill, a state government spokesperson said Woodside had played a role in developing the Pilbara Energy Transition Plan.
“The state government has a clear and deliverable plan agreed by major proponents in the Pilbara, including Woodside for multiple common-use transmission infrastructure that will unlock the region’s clean energy potential,” they said.
“Woodside played an important role as a contributor to the Pilbara Energy Transition Plan.
“The state government values that contribution and is committed to delivering the plan.
“The state government is now working with Woodside and others to deliver on a transmission plan that enables Woodside’s decarbonisation goals and generates shared benefits to the entire Pilbara community.”
The state has sought to smooth a complex development pathway and facilitate swift progress on the transmission lines.
APA was granted priority project status for the delivery of transmission infrastructure in the Hamersley Range and Burrup corridors by the Western Australian government in December last year.
Best known in WA for its gas pipeline network, APA acquired the bulk of its Pilbara stake in its $1.7 billion 2023 move for Alinta Energy’s regional power assets, including its power stations at Port Hedland and Newman and 200 kilometres of transmission lines.
APA said then the Pilbara’s decarbonisation had a value of about $15 billion.
“We believe this acquisition gives us the scale and capability to be the leading provider of bundled energy infrastructure solutions for the remote regions of Australia, providing the opportunity to support the increasing need for reliable, affordable and low-emissions energy as our customers continue to decarbonise,” APA managing director Adam Watson said in 2023.
It is invested in the gargantuan task of delivering renewables support to a difficult region, but it is a decision that could pay off handsomely in the years ahead.
The full Pilbara Energy Transmission Plan will require 3,000 kilometres of new transmission lines at an assumed investment of between $6 billion and $13.5 billion between now and 2051, according to an APA submission last month to the Evolution of the Pilbara Networks Rules Working Group.
That figure covers all four corridors.
APA is planning to deliver two of these, including the line which could unlock Woodside’s solar farm.
No timeline has been set yet, but last year former energy minister Reece Whitby said the state hoped to deliver the first new common-use lines for mining and energy users by 2030.
For industrial operators facing emissions scrutiny, that date may seem a speck in the distance.
For the state it is also critical.
Premier Roger Cook has recently stepped back from suggestions the state should legislate climate reduction targets, despite WA being the only state without a 2030 emissions target.
His argument has been that the bulk of WA’s heaviest industrial operators are subject to the federal Safeguard Mechanism.
“I’m not going to shackle WA to legislation which damages our efforts to help the globe to decarbonise and reduce emissions,” he said in May.
Under the Safeguard Mechanism, annual emitters of more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent must lower their emissions on a rolling, five-year basis through to 2050.
The ability for the Pilbara’s major industrial operators to decarbonise their operations in keeping with their Safeguard obligations may, in some cases, depend on state-owned transmission infrastructure yet to be built.
Electric feel
The delivery and maintenance of transmission networks, and services in support of the broader energy transition, has emerged as the key trend at the top of the Business News contractors list this year.
There are notable examples at the top of the list which have engaged with Western Power on transmission works in the SWIS.
The state’s second-ranked contractor in the Business News Data and Insights list, Ventia, was awarded a five-year contract worth about $150 million last year to deliver transmission and distribution maintenance services across the existing Western Power network.
An international firm, Ventia has funnelled staff into the WA project from Australia and New Zealand and other business divisions, including its telecommunications, defence and transport service offerings to support the job.
The SWIS maintenance project employs more than 50 staff but represents a drop in the ocean against Ventia’s global revenue of $6.1 billion.
Another big Western Power transmission contract was given to CIMIC Group subsidiary UGL, ranked fourth on the Data & Insights contractor list, which was tasked in January with designing, supplying, installing and commissioning extensions to Western Power’s Neerabup power substations.
Belmont-headquartered GenusPlus has a $270 million contract with Western Power to build new terminals at Regans Ford and Eneabba, which will connect back to the SWIS.
The work is part of the broader Clean Energy Link project estimated to cost $655 million and will be critical to unlocking the constrained renewable energy in the Mid West, where several renewable projects are in various stages of planning and remain constrained.
The government hopes to have it delivered by 2027.
Other major WA contractors are taking steps to expand their service offerings in the space, including number three-ranked Monadelphous, which struck a deal to acquire Perth-based High Energy Service at the end of April.
The $21.5 million move was taken as part of a strategic push by Monadelphous to increase its capacity in both development and maintenance of electricity infrastructure in the state.
“The acquisition of HES supports Monadelphous’ strategic efforts to expand its capabilities and support the development and ongoing maintenance of the essential electricity generation, storage and infrastructure needed for Australia’s energy transition,” it said.
Monadelphous was the number one contractor on the list last year as ranked by WA staff but pulled back in 2025 as NRW Holdings assumed top spot.
