Western Australia to become coal-free by 2030 with Muja power station to be shut down

Western Australia will shut its last coal-fired power unit before the end of the decade and spend an extra half a billion dollars to foster new jobs for displayed workers, the state government said.

The state will join South Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania to be coal-free in its power generation. A report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) last year said Australia could exit coal-fired power entirely by 2043.

On Tuesday afternoon, coal, solar and gas were providing roughly equal shares of the market.

The support package includes an extra $547.4m to be spent in the Collie region to back the exit of coal workers into new industries. That comes on top of the $115m already committed.

About 1,200 staff from Collie and the surrounding areas will be affected by the closure, ABC reported.

Household power bill increases will be kept in line with inflation, McGowan said. Without taking the action to ditch coal, those bills would rise from their current average rate of about $1,800 to more than $3,000 a year, and subsidies to Synergy would swell to $3bn by 2029-30 to cover mounting losses.

As part of the changes, the government committed to not commission any new natural gas-fired power stations on the south-west grid after 2030. The gas supplies are reserved as part of a 15% carve-out of gas production in the state, a system that some would like to see applied in eastern Australia to ensure supplies and cap price increases.

The WA energy minister, Bill Johnston, said the state was adding the equivalent of adding a new coal-fired generation unit every year in new rooftop solar.