PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gas will continue to play a significant role in the Western Australian energy market, as the state government moves to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2030.

Speaking at the AOG Energy expo, Western Australia Deputy Premier Roger Cook said that the work of transition would require massive investment in building new physical assets and modifying existing ones.

“This is why we have committed to investing an estimated A$3.8-billion in new green power infrastructure. This is expected to result in a 40% reduction in emissions on the state's main grid at the Southwest interconnected system,” Cook said on Wednesday.

“Gas will still have a key role to play in our transition as a flexible source of energy, providing peaking power today and continuing to provide firming power into the future. In the short to medium term, our massive natural gas reservoirs will help displace coal and feed industry processes. Gas will help to smooth the transition to renewables while guaranteeing energy security both for Western Australia and for our core trading partners in the region.”

Cook told delegates that carbon capture, utilisation and storage would play an important role in addressing the carbon emissions from gas by managing emissions from oil and gas production.

“Carbon capture represents an important opportunity to decarbonise our energy exports, particularly in gas processing, liquefied natural gas and potentially hydrogen. Carbon capture will also become essential if we are to manage emissions for industrial processes that have no known technological alternatives, in particular around cement and chemical manufacturing processes.

“It's a challenge. It's a challenge, but there are enormous opportunities. There is a lot of work to be done to ensure the sector reduces its emissions,” Cook said.

Meanwhile, he told delegates at the expo that Western Australia also offered significant hydrogen opportunity, with the state government partnering with industry to identify ways to produce, export and use renewable hydrogen, including through the establishment of hydrogen hubs in the Pilbara, Midwest and southwest.

“In 2019, the Western Australian renewable hydrogen strategy set out four strategic focus areas for our state. These areas are in transport, blending, export and remote applications. We also set targets between 2022 and 2030 for each area. All four of these areas are either under construction or commissioned as per our goals, demonstrating that we can achieve our targets.

“Recent hydrogen project announcements like the Yuri project currently under construction in the Pilbara, Woodside H2Perth hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Kwinana, the 50 GW Western green energy hub on the south coast, and the massive Australian renewable energy hub planned for the Pilbara . . . are all signs of global confidence in renewable energy credentials and ambitions,” Cook said.