$600m energy price tag

A Senate inquiry into the future of regional capitals in Australia was “shocked” to hear it would take only $600 million in State and Government funding to turn Geraldton into a leading State energy supplier.

The Senate committee, led by Greens Senators Peter Whish-Wilson, Glenn Sterle and Rachel Siewert, heard Geraldton would be able to secure the Mid West and State’s energy security as well as lower the carbon footprint of Perth.

City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn, his predecessor Ian Carpenter and corporate and commercial services director Bob Davis last Wednesday told the inquiry Geraldton had a vast opportunity for renewable energy production, but the current powerline connecting Geraldton to Perth limited the City’s ability to export it.

The senators were told the existing 132 kilovolt line limited Geraldton’s ability to input renewable energy from the region into the south-west integrated grid, which supplies power from Albany to Kalbarri.

The representatives of the City said a lack of funding to upgrade this powerline had diminished Geraldton’s ability to become one of the State’s leading providers of power and energy.

Responding to the estimated price of the project, Mr Sterle said he was shocked the State and Federal Government had not been able to provide funding to the project.

“Six hundred million dollars, are you serious?” he said.

“(That) is all it would take to put this part of the world so far up the ladder in terms of advancement?

“I can’t help it as a West Aussie but wonder how we can invest in all sorts of stuff, but we can’t find $600 million to advance certain projects that could not only advance itself, but the rest of our State.”

Speaking outside the inquiry, Mr Van Styn said the biggest hurdle in acquiring funding was the requirement to match fund it.

“When you need a $600 million investment, it is the Federal thinking that the local will inject a third, the State will inject a third and the Federal will inject a third,” he said.

“When you’re a regional capital such as Geraldton, you don’t have the rate base or the revenue base to fund your resources to contribute much, if anything, for such building exercises.

“There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way funding is allocated.

“There’s this big mentality of, ‘oh, they’ll simply chuck $100 million in here’, but for us, $10 million is a big number, $1 million is a big number.”

The Senate committee has travelled to Tasmania and Victoria and had its first West Australian hearing in Geraldton on Wednesday.