Name: Retiring coal: the Kwinana big battery project
Uploaded: 2023-11-22T00:27:50.494Z
Duration: 209.88
Description: Hear from Jason Froud, the General Manager for Strategy Acceleration at Synergy, as he explores the Kwinana big battery project and how it will create significant contributions to Australia's goals of achieving a carbon-free future. Jason also details how coal-fired generators will be retired, potentially resulting in an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

Jason Froud 2.mp4

Jason Froud.vtt

Subtitles

{{00:00:12}}
So we're looking at ways to accelerate
the decarbonisation of the grid in

{{00:00:16}}
the southwest interconnected system.

{{00:00:18}}
One of the ways we're doing that is
looking at the construction of about

{{00:00:23}}
800 megawatts of wind generation.

{{00:00:26}}
And about 1,100 megawatts of
four hour duration battery

{{00:00:30}}
storage between now and 2030.

{{00:00:33}}
That will enable us to retire all
of the coal fire generators in the

{{00:00:38}}
Swiss by 2030 and will result in
decarbonization of the Swiss 80%

{{00:00:43}}
lower than what it is today by 2030.

{{00:00:53}}
We're building a 100 megawatt,
200 megawatt hour battery.

{{00:00:57}}
at the old Kwinana Power Station
about 40 kilometres south of Perth.

{{00:01:02}}
It's a fascinating site.

{{00:01:04}}
Right next door is the old Kwinana Power
Station, which was a tri fuelled site.

{{00:01:09}}
That's coal, gas and liquids up
until it was retired in 2015.

{{00:01:12}}
There's still three working gas
turbines at the site as well.

{{00:01:19}}
So it's really an interesting
juxtaposition of new technology

{{00:01:22}}
with the battery and the old
technology right next door.

{{00:01:27}}
And we're actually building the
battery on the site of some fuel oil

{{00:01:30}}
bulk storage tanks that served us
well for many years, but the site

{{00:01:35}}
has been repurposed now for our big
battery that will be commissioned and

{{00:01:39}}
operational by the middle of this year.

{{00:01:48}}
So the co-location of renewables
and battery storage in WA has

{{00:01:52}}
certainly been envisaged in the new
regulatory framework and also the

{{00:01:56}}
revised reserve capacity mechanism.

{{00:01:58}}
It will be up to individual proponents to
determine whether or not it makes sense.

{{00:02:03}}
But it's certainly something
that we're looking at in Western

{{00:02:05}}
Australia and that synergy as well.

{{00:02:14}}
So the key to enabling coal assets to
retire is obviously us being able to build

{{00:02:18}}
out our renewables and storage pipeline.

{{00:02:21}}
And it's going to be a challenge
because global supply chain issues,

{{00:02:25}}
which are impacting everyone
around the world at the moment.

{{00:02:29}}
Further that you've got the challenges to
connect to the network making sure that

{{00:02:35}}
the incentives that exist for renewable
generation are there and continue.

{{00:02:41}}
And obviously, workforce
challenges as well.

{{00:02:46}}
We need a lot of people to do all of
this stuff and finding enough people in

{{00:02:50}}
Australia is going to be challenging given
the amount of work that we need to do.

{{00:02:54}}
And the one thing that's been very clear
from this conference and a common theme

{{00:02:57}}
throughout is the scale of the challenge
ahead of us is very, it's a big one and

{{00:03:05}}
we've got to make sure that we take one
step at a time and just chip away at it

{{00:03:09}}
because it's a really important task.

{{00:03:11}}
We need to get to zero net emissions by
2050 and a big part of that is to make

{{00:03:16}}
sure that we're hitting those goals and
we're meeting our targets by 2030 on the

{{00:03:21}}
pathway to zero net emissions by 2050.

So we're looking at ways to accelerate
the decarbonisation of the grid in

One of the ways we're doing that is
looking at the construction of about

And about 1,100 megawatts of
four hour duration battery

That will enable us to retire all
of the coal fire generators in the

Swiss by 2030 and will result in
decarbonization of the Swiss 80%

We're building a 100 megawatt,
200 megawatt hour battery.

at the old Kwinana Power Station
about 40 kilometres south of Perth.

Right next door is the old Kwinana Power
Station, which was a tri fuelled site.

That's coal, gas and liquids up
until it was retired in 2015.

There's still three working gas
turbines at the site as well.

So it's really an interesting
juxtaposition of new technology

with the battery and the old
technology right next door.

And we're actually building the
battery on the site of some fuel oil

bulk storage tanks that served us
well for many years, but the site

has been repurposed now for our big
battery that will be commissioned and

So the co-location of renewables
and battery storage in WA has

certainly been envisaged in the new
regulatory framework and also the

It will be up to individual proponents to
determine whether or not it makes sense.

But it's certainly something
that we're looking at in Western

So the key to enabling coal assets to
retire is obviously us being able to build

And it's going to be a challenge
because global supply chain issues,

which are impacting everyone
around the world at the moment.

Further that you've got the challenges to
connect to the network making sure that

the incentives that exist for renewable
generation are there and continue.

And obviously, workforce
challenges as well.

We need a lot of people to do all of
this stuff and finding enough people in

Australia is going to be challenging given
the amount of work that we need to do.

And the one thing that's been very clear
from this conference and a common theme

throughout is the scale of the challenge
ahead of us is very, it's a big one and

we've got to make sure that we take one
step at a time and just chip away at it

We need to get to zero net emissions by
2050 and a big part of that is to make

sure that we're hitting those goals and
we're meeting our targets by 2030 on the

Expert Insight

Hear from Jason Froud, the General Manager for Strategy Acceleration at Synergy, as he explores the Kwinana big battery project and how it will create significant contributions to Australia's goals of achieving a carbon-free future. Jason also details how coal-fired generators will be retired, potentially resulting in an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.