Electricity—Whole-of-system plan
368. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation:
I refer to the government's Whole of System Plan released in 2020, which was due to be updated by the end of 2023 according to the government announcement in June 2022 but has now been extended to the end of 2025.
(1) When will the government deliver the whole-of-system plan?
(2) Why has it taken two additional years to deliver the plan?
(3) How can the minister have an energy transition plan that can be trusted when she still does not have a whole-of-system plan that will be required to deliver it?
(4) What consultants have been engaged to deliver the new whole-of-system plan, how much has each consultant been paid and what is the total budget for consultants up to the release of the plan?
Hon Stephen Dawson replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. It is not even a Thursday, but nonetheless.
(1)–(2) The whole-of-system plan modelling framework developed for the inaugural WOSP has been used to underpin transmission planning for the South West Interconnected System. It has informed development of the SWIS Demand Assessment 2023 to 2042 and the SWIS Transmission Planning Update for 2024. These important reports have been key to several critical decisions, including the Clean Energy Link—North projects, as well as state government funding of $324 million to progress scoping and planning for a range of potential new transmission projects across the SWIS.
(3) The system planning needed to underpin the transition of the SWIS has continued to progress, with more recent planning exercises, including the SWIS Demand Assessment 2023 to 2042 and the SWIS Transmission Planning Update for 2024, informing the immediate transition requirements.
(4) Not applicable.
