WA takes action following supercell thunderstorm damage

Western Australia’s Cook government is aiming to improve the reliability of electricity supply in the Goldfields region, following a freak supercell thunderstorm in mid-January that caused unprecedented damage to Western Power’s network.

Parts of regional WA were affected by extended outages, leaving communities enduring heatwave conditions with no power.

To prevent this happening again, the Coordinator of Energy has determined Western Power should commence a Non-Co-optimised Essential System Services (NCESS) procurement process for up to 150 MW of reliability services and additional system strength services for the Goldfields.

Established as part of the state government’s Energy Transformation Strategy, published in 2022, the NCESS framework enables the Australian Energy Market Operator, Western Power or the Coordinator of Energy to identify the need for services not already available through existing market mechanisms and procure them in a transparent and efficient manner.

“The Cook government is committed to enhancing the reliability and security of power supply in the Goldfields region,” said WA Energy Minister Reece Whitby.

“The procurement process will seek to encourage development and deployment of innovative non-network solutions to maintain reliable supply to the Goldfields and meet customer expectations for increased renewable energy in the South West Interconnected System.”

Prior to this move, the government had taken various actions following the mid-January outages, including doubling the extended outage payment for affected customers; requesting a review of electricity supply reliability be conducted by Energy Policy WA, Synergy and Western Power; and requesting a network resilience package be drawn up by Energy Policy WA.

Western Power will now commence the NCESS procurement process; additional generation is expected to be available by 2026.

Image credit: iStock.com/Ina Fuchs