Rooftop solar is the future of energy in Western Australia, and will provide the bulk of daytime generating capacity in Perth within 10 years, says the state’s energy minister, Mike Nahan.
Speaking at the Energy in WA conference in Perth, Dr Nahan also said the state-owned power company Synergy will need to shut down some of its fossil fuel power stations to correct an oversupply of capacity in the state.
“Given the excess capacity on a good day – 42 per cent – and also the growth of solar ... and declining demand, we have excess capacity,” said Dr Nahan, as reported by the ABC and The West Australian.
Dr Nahan said the installed solar capacity across the state was about 500 MW, and that this was expected to grow rapidly in coming years.
“Small-scale solar is growing at 20, 30 per cent a year and will do nothing but accentuate [sic] and it is actually quite cheap,” said Dr Nahan.
“We expect that the bulk of generating capacity during sunlight hours in the metro area in about 10 years’ time will be provided by rooftop solar.”
Around 21.1 per cent of households in WA now have a PV system, according to the Australian PV Institute.
By 2025, the bulk of new generation capacity in WA will be provided by solar, said Dr Nahan.
He said rooftop solar will displace a lot of existing generation capacity, and that the WA government is committed to facilitating this growth.
He added that it is costing taxpayers heavily to maintain the current oversupply, and that some of Synergy’s thermal-generating plants must therefore be scrapped – though he did not say which facilities were first in line.
“We have a market that does not allow [shutting down plants] now. We will make some changes and, when we get to that point, Synergy will come and advise me on which assets should shut down.”
