WA’s main power grid under the Coalition’s plan to incorporate nuclear would only produce about three-quarters of the electricity the State needs.
The West can reveal the shortfall — which translates to about 2.3GW — as the political battle over the future of the nation’s energy system heats up.
Peter Dutton released modelling last week showing building a nuclear, renewables and gas power system for the east coast would cost $331 billion out to 2050.
This is cheaper than the Government’s plans without nuclear but it also involves 40 per cent less energy usage, lower take-up of electric cars and slower economic growth, and spreads much of the capital costs beyond the 2050 period.
The modelling by Frontier Economics did not show what the effect on household power bills would be — although Mr Dutton and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor both now say their plan would cut bills by 44 per cent.
“It will bring down electricity bills by 44 per cent, there’s no doubt about that. I mean, that’s over time,” Mr Taylor said on Wednesday.
Nor does the $331 billion price tag cover the costs for adding nuclear to WA’s energy mix.
The South West town of Collie has been earmarked as one of the proposed locations to build seven reactors but was not included in the Frontier modelling.
Resources Minister Madeleine King said it was “staggering” that WA had been left out of Mr Dutton’s plans.
“I know there’s a bit of an east-west divide sometimes, but that you would leave WA off the map entirely in the costings of your nuclear energy plan from the Coalition is just absurd,” she said.
Shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien said the same conclusions from the modelling applied in WA.
“The Coalition’s plan for Collie is the same as for the other six identified locations,” he told The West Australian.
“Due to the size of the SWIS (South West Interconnected System), we anticipate a small modular reactor for Collie, not a larger plant.”
Small modular reactors produce up to 300MW of power and are not yet commercially available.
Under the policy, 1GW of power will come from nuclear, which the Coalition wants to build at the site of the state-owned Muja coal-fired generator near Collie.
A 1GW capacity would require three small modular reactors to produce. The Coalition insists it is yet to settle on a final reactor design and capacity.
This would cost at least $10 billion to build on the Coalition’s figures, although international comparisons indicate construction is likely to be more expensive.
If nuclear produces 13 per cent of power, in line with Frontier’s east coast modelling, that indicates a grid around Perth with a total capacity of almost 7.7GW.
But the State Government projects demand for electricity will be above 10GW by 2042.
Curtin University energy expert Liam Wagner said if heavy industry continued to use fossil fuels rather than electrifying, it would face carbon tariffs like those being introduced in the EU, so it was likely to keep cutting emissions to avoid that trade risk.
“Where are we going to get the electricity from, if heavy industry has been decarbonising on its own? It’s not going to come from nukes,” he said.
The West asked Mr O’Brien if the Coalition expected stagnating growth in WA given the amount of electricity its plan would produce.
“The Coalition’s approach integrates zero-emissions nuclear energy alongside renewables and gas, delivering a total system cost significantly lower than Labor’s,” he said.
“This means reduced power bills for households, lower operating costs for small businesses, and a stronger, more resilient economy.”
It’s unclear what the Coalition’s energy plan is for the Pilbara region, which operates on a separate grid from Perth and the South-West.
The WA Government is already shifting away from coal power, and Premier Roger Cook slammed the Coalition’s nuclear policy as a distraction.
Collie power station will close in October 2027 and Muja follows in October 2029.
Mr O’Brien did not answer questions about how long he wanted to extend the lives of these generators – a prospect the WA Government has rejected.
“A key principle of Coalition policy is that you do not close one system before having another one ready to go. With respect to coal, we don’t believe in the premature closure of coal plants without there being a replacement,” he said.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-politics/coalition-and-peter-duttons-nuclear-plan-leaves-wa-with-electricity-shortfall-c-17098256
