1
Introduction
2
Context
3
South West Overview
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Transformative Opportunities
5
Positioning the South West
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Contact & Feedback
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Renewable energy technologies are critical to decarbonising the region and nation. The South West benefits from both solar and wind opportunities in energy generation. Green hydrogen also offers targeted project opportunities, for example in fuelling waste collection trucks.
With Net Zero goals across the State and Australian Governments, current energy and transport sectors represent the key to curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Collie sits at the centre of the South West Interconnected System and with the impending closure of coal-fired power stations, the preconditions exist to drive significant change at the regional level. The South West is primed for major investment in offshore wind projects that will power industry and underpin a bright future for advanced manufacturers seeking to produce goods with 100% green energy.
In transport, the region is served by two main arterial routes – the Forrest/Bussell Highway and South Western Highway – ensuring that electric vehicle (EV) charging points can be effectively deployed in a dominantly linear arrangement. The region’s go-ahead future could also be served by improved public transport linkages between the major population centres of Bunbury and Busselton which collectively account for more than half of all South West residents.
The region has the opportunity to leverage the South West’s competitive advantages in the creative industries sector and explore further innovation and technology development through the WA Creative Technology Innovation Hub (WACTIH) which is being delivered through ECU South West.
Headquartered in Bunbury (BLab) and dubbed the WA Creative Tech Village, WACTIH operates across the state as a distributed connector network, building local, national and international industry partnerships to deliver stakeholder-driven programs and explore cutting-edge creative technology development.
A first for WA, the hub will be focused on supporting creative industries in design, music, advertising, film, and media, as well as emerging technologies including gaming, digital software development and immersive technology.
Founded in 2023, WACTIH's first international initiative is the Creative Tech Exchange, an agreement with Singhasari SEZ from Indonesia. The Creative Tech Exchange works to develop new partnerships with creative, tech and innovation collaborators from around the world.
Closer to home, WACTIH works with the local high schools to deliver the Innovation Academy, empowering students and embedding innovation in the regional psyche.
Image by Olivier Marril for Emergence Creative
The drive for a high value advanced manufacturing hub underpins the broader reasoning behind digital innovation, creating a region that is competitive on the world stage where quality and business cultures are no longer undermined by cost. Robotics and automation are levellers while regional liveability is the business attractor.
COVID also showed that than an over-reliance on overseas supply chains carries risk and that forward looking means digital.
Australia is the global leader in domestic solar power generation with Australian rooftops already producing more energy than coal-fired power stations. The key challenge with solar is energy storage. Domestic and community scale batteries will act as a grid stabiliser with Neoen’s 1GW+ Big Battery investment in Collie set to add energy storage and grid stability at an industrial scale.
Solar is also a regional option to generate green hydrogen and deliver transport solutions, particularly targeting tasks such as waste collection which operates on pre-determined loops with vehicles returning to base.