1
Introduction
2
Context
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South West Overview
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Transformative Opportunities
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Positioning the South West
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Contact & Feedback
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The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has identified WA as undergoing one of the nation’s fastest electricity transitions. At times, renewable energy now accounts for more than half of electricity generated in the Wholesale Electricity Market, driven by rapid growth in rooftop solar, utility-scale wind generation and battery storage. As coal-fired generation is progressively retired, maintaining a secure and reliable electricity supply will depend upon coordinated investment in renewable generation and the electricity network.
The South West sits at the heart of the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), the world’s largest isolated electricity network. For more than a century, Collie’s coal-fired power stations have underpinned WA’s baseload electricity supply.
The SWIS comprises approximately 7,800km of transmission lines and more than 93,000km of distribution lines. As electricity demand continues to grow, there is an obvious need for more generation and improvements to the transmission network.
The Australian Government has declared an offshore wind feasibility area in the Bunbury and Geographe Bay region. While the commercial viability and ultimate scale of offshore wind is to be determined, proposals reflect growing recognition of the South West’s renewable energy potential. Onshore wind continues to attract investment, supported by favourable wind resources and proximity to existing transmission infrastructure.
Household rooftop solar has become a defining feature of the SWIS, with WA recording one of the highest rates of residential solar uptake in the world (36-40%, contributing 3GW of cumulative distributed capacity). Continued growth in distributed energy resources, together with improvements in network management and transmission infrastructure, will be fundamental to delivering a secure, affordable and low-emissions electricity system for the State.
WA continues to recognise green hydrogen as a potential long-term opportunity to support industrial decarbonisation and future export markets. However, commercial development has progressed more slowly than anticipated, with a number of proposed projects deferred as technology, economics and market demand continue to evolve.
WA’s domestic gas market continues to face medium and long-term supply challenges as existing gas fields mature and demand from industry and electricity generation evolves. While the immediate gas supply challenge has softened, the AEMO forecasts additional domestic supply will be required from 2030 onwards to meet growing demand. Ultimately, it may become necessary for all Perth basin gas supplies to be committed for domestic use in the years ahead.
Collie has emerged as the State’s principal battery storage hub. Neoen’s Collie Battery Energy Storage System (219MW/877MWh) became operational in 2024 and an expanded system (341MW/1,363MWh) in 2025. Synergy’s 500MW/2,400MWh Collie Battery Energy Storage System was commissioned in February 2026.
Together these projects represent one of the largest concentrations of grid-scale battery storage in Australia and underline the South West as the operational centre of WA’s energy transition.
Investment in battery storage continues across the South West. Alinta Energy is progressing a 100MW / 200MWh battery at Wagerup and has approval for a second 300MW / 1,200MWh battery at the same site.
In Collie, Hesperia is progressing approvals for a project combining a 66MW solar farm with a 200MW battery energy storage system. These investments reinforce the South West’s central role in supporting reliability and SWIS resilience.
Collectively, the operational and in-progress battery storage infrastructure will contribute a total power output of 1,460MW representing 6,040 MWh (excluding Hesperia which has not yet specified its output).
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 State-funded WA Creative Technology Innovation Hub (WACTIH) which trades as the Creative Tech Village (CTV).
Headquartered in Bunbury {B}LAB, the CTV 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 is focused on supporting the region’s 1,500 people working in design, music, advertising, film, and media, as well as emerging technologies including gaming, digital software development and immersive tech and LLMs.
Founded in 2023, WACTIH’s first international initiative is the Creative Tech Exchange, an agreement with Indonesia’s Singhasari SEZ. The Creative Tech Exchange is also working to develop partnerships with creative, tech and innovation collaborators from Singapore and beyond.
Closer to home, CTV partners with major events such as Emergence Creative, GoSH Hackathon and developed programs such as Bandwidth as a mentoring program, and a Pathways program, Biddiwah, for future emerging creatives and techs.
As the creative industries grow, we might ponder Green AI and the opportunity to be building renewable-powered data centres to export.
To further progress the creative sector, there are opportunities in the Busselton Business Fibre Zone to create a creative industries centre at scale and on a fully commercial footing based on a model comprising shared resources, tenants with established businesses and the inclusion of an incubator component to transition start up innovators into commercial operations.
Common-user facilities – particularly where tech and equipment is capitally intensive – makes a great deal of sense in raising the commercial bar, industry capability and the facilitation of growth in the industry.
The space itself should be built with large areas for usage as a photographic or video studio, sound stage or green screen/ motion capture and recording/editing facilities for tenants and visiting productions. Co-working spaces add to the commercial arm of the project and generate other prospects.
It is expected that some existing studios and offices would be attracted to a dedicated space. This would underpin greater industry collaboration while tenant rents provide an income stream to maintain the facility and its equipment. Established creatives could additionally be integrated into the incubator program, mentoring and providing advice.
With a targeted Busselton location, the proposed facility could generate genuine critical mass by integrating with nearby convention centre activities, gallery, CinéfestOZ program and events.