WA SEA Chief Executive Ray Wills is quick to describe the state’s enormous renewable energy potential.

“Australia is the Middle East of renewable energy and Western Australia is the Saudi Arabia,” he says.

World-class renewable resources

Western Australia (WA) has the full mix when it comes to renewables. It has world-class solar resources, wind resources to rival those of its Australian neighbours, wave energy potential, land ripe for biomass production, as well as geothermal prospects.

The southern half of the state has world quality wind resources on land. “There are a whole raft of wind projects ready to rock and roll in Western Australia that can be readily built and will be built once the MRET [Mandatory Renewable Energy Target] is finalised,” explains Dr Wills.

Biomass is another established renewable resource that has significant growth potential.

Emerging technologies also have a lot to offer the state, with Carnegie Corporation’s CETO wave technology and projects advancing and increased R&D into the ocean’s energy power. Dr Wills believes that there will be ‘significant outputs’ from the wave energy sector within the next two years. Hot rocks could also play a role in future energy generation, heating and cooling.

The state is solar rich, with resources ranging from potential for large scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal projects in the Pilbara region to smaller scale commercial and residential generation throughout the state.

Only three years ago, Perth was rated as one of the best cities in the world for solar power generation. A 2006 Photovoltaic Power Systems Program of the International Energy Agency (IEA-PVPS) report, found that Perth lead other OECD cities.

Dr Wills says the report illustrates the state’s solar energy potential and the strides it must take to live up to the sun’s powerful promise.

The report also found that Edinburgh in Scotland was one of the world’s worst solar cities in terms of PV potential and energy return. However, as Dr Wills points out, while Scotland has about 70 megawatts (MW) of installed solar and generates 20 per cent of its energy from renewable resources, Australia has only 30 MW of installed solar and 5 per cent generated from renewables.

The other significant fact about the state’s solar potential is its scalability. The state’s take-up of residential solar hot water and PV is increasing and a feed-in tariff (FiT) – more on this net tariff later – has been proposed by the WA Government that will see continued investment by consumers.

Meanwhile, large scale solar PV is also developing. A solar PV power station being developed in the Pilbara region is expected to generate over 1 gigawatt hours of renewable energy per annum and will be the largest PV tracking system in the country.

WA is also ripe for solar thermal development. “We probably have the best location for solar thermal anywhere on the planet,” says Dr Wills, referring specifically to the Pilbara, which is often described as an engine room of the nation whose economy is dominated by mining and petroleum.

There are ‘grand’ solar thermal opportunities, says Dr Wills, particularly with the budgeted $1.3 billion in funding from the Federal Government, which could well be a catalyst for their development.

Driving renewables – policy, business and the WA SEA

Dr Wills explains that while government policies and programs have been the most significant factors driving the industry’s growth, business has also played a substantial role.

The business community’s role in the industry’s growth is reflected in the minimal impact of the recent global financial crisis. “The majority of players are bringing projects to fruition in a market that didn’t exist five years ago,” he says.

The outlook is good. Government incentives and, as importantly, business interest and customer investment in the sector is resulting in growth in demand for all manner of products from energy efficiency to renewable energy, he says.

He adds that business interest is reflected in the early movers, in the uptake and the understanding that “energy is pricing and being ahead of the game.”

The WA SEA itself is also seeing increasing support. Membership has increased five-fold in the last two years and Dr Wills expects it to reach 300 by the end of the year.

He describes the association as an industry chamber, a fact reflected by its diverse membership, from individuals up to large corporate members who represent the diverse sustainability spectrum.

“We [the WA SEA] need to worry about the whole supply chain and from my point of view, that’s very healthy,” says Dr Wills.

Policy to speed up generation

To see the state’s renewable energy live up to its potential, policy must be good public policy but also good business policy. To ensure this, Dr Wills says multiple government measures are key.

With the price of energy increasing, he believes renewable energy would evolve naturally over the next 30 years. In this scenario, a single market-based mechanism such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) would work.

“We can’t wait 30 years, we need [renewable energy] now,” he says. “We need multiple measures from government to ensure that we get a rapid transition in the economy.”

On the Federal Government’s three pillared approach to tackling climate, environment and energy security through energy efficiency the CPRS and the expanded RET, Dr Wills applies the same reasoning: good policy equals good business and industry policy.

Energy efficiency has so far been underplayed by government. With increasing energy costs – particularly under a CPRS – the logical process, he says, is to achieve greater energy efficiencies, then move to putting a price on carbon and developing the industry through the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and other industry development mechanisms.

“It is about creating a new industry in Australia that will be the industry of the twenty-first century and the way to produce energy in the twenty-first century.”

Asked about the recent decision by the WA Government to implement a net rather than a gross feed-in tariff, Dr Wills says simply that the decision does not make sense. His answer comes back to the need for consistent and measured policy to encourage industry growth and a more sustainable way of life.

The logic of a gross FiT is simple. It encourages the installation of systems that meet or exceed the energy demands of a household. A net FiT is less effective because it often defaults to only a ‘minimalist installation’ that generally meets a mere third of a property’s energy requirements.

The decision is also problematic because of the new uncertainty it has introduced to the market, says Dr Wills.

“That’s always unsettling, when clear policy statements are made and then suddenly reversed without any real depth of explanation as to why.”

He down plays a suggestion by the Government that the decision was to do with national consistency.

“National consistency should [not] create lower standards. You should welcome national consistency when it creates a high level of practice across the country. But if with national consistency you accept the same mediocre standards for a particular thing across the country, then national consistency is not welcome,” he says.

The emphasis on direct costs in government modelling about the renewable energy market while failing to value the resultant unseen value of opportunities created by its growth – i.e. employment, reduced infrastructure and network costs through distributed generation – is another concern for Dr Wills.

He points to the modelling for the CPRS and the change to the Western Australian FiT scheme as examples of an overstated negative cost outweighing clear positive opportunities.

Endurance and growth ahead

Despite these concerns, Dr Wills is optimistic about the industry’s future in WA and the nation.

“We’re a country that is wealthy in terms of finances, wealthy in terms of resources and it is [growing renewable energy] something that we can not only afford to do but if we do it, we will be rewarded for it.”

Recently back from a trip to the United Kingdom and Europe, Dr Wills wonders at Australia’s lag in the global renewable energy development race.

“I was privileged to do the trip just to see how much the UK and the European sector is actually doing in this space and how far ahead of us they are, despite the fact that we’ve got better resources than them. That just underscores to me the fact that we are missing an opportunity.” The WA SEA was officially incorporated in July, 2002. Dr Wills joined the association as Chairman in 2006 and was appointed CEO in November 2007. For more information on the WA SEA, click here.