Premier’s call for industry to lead transition labelled ‘lazy’ as energy plan is delayed for two years

The Premier has demanded industry “lean in” to WA’s energy transition, as he was accused of falling years behind on planning. A day after The West Australian revealed the deadline for a “whole of system plan” for WA’s grid has been quietly pushed back by two years, Roger Cook insisted the State is on track to transition out of coal by 2030. But he admitted the transition won’t be easy. “That process is not going to be clean, it’s not going to be linear, it’s not going to be without its complications,” Mr Cook said. He used a speech in front of industry leaders, to urge them to act faster. “If we are to become a renewable energy powerhouse, in a net zero by 2050 world, and secure the all the opportunities that this represents, such as green iron, we need you to act, to lean in,” Mr Cook said. “You lean in, and we will assist you in any way that we can.” The Premier urged executives at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy’s Premier’s Industry Lunch to lock-in deals with renewable energy. “They need customers. You need energy. We need you to enter the off take agreements early to help them reach final investment decision,” he said. Both the Opposition and the Greens called that a cop out. “The Premier needs to stop asking corporations to do his job,” Greens MP Brad Pettit said. “It’s the role of government to set renewable energy targets, reaching out to the corporate sector to do that work for them, frankly, is lazy.” Shadow Energy Minister Steve Thomas claimed WA’s transition out of coal by 2030 is now in doubt. “The whole of system plan includes generation and storage as well as the power lines,” he said. “Not only is that late release bad for industry, and they won’t have enough time to deliver, they won’t know where they’re supposed to be delivering until it comes out.” Industry leaders said funding is not flowing fast enough. “The State Government has acknowledged the work required to make our strategic industrial areas competitive on a global stage, with a billion dollars allocated to the strategic industries fund,” CME WA economist Aaron Walker said. “However, only $12 million were spent in the last financial year.” Mr Cook said a plan for strategic industrial areas will be finalised by the end of the year. And he said the “whole of system plan” is not needed to get on with the transition. “We already have significant upgrades around industrial areas at Kwinana, Kemerton and Coolangatta to ensure that we have a greater supply of electricity into those important strategic industrial areas,” he said.