The funding is designed to expand and unlock renewable energy projects, including Western Power’s Clean Energy Link transmission projects.
Funded in the 2024–25 State Budget, the $500 million Strategic Industries Fund is expected to deliver common-user and other enabling infrastructure at SIAs across regional and metropolitan Western Australia.
The fund will also enable Western Power to continue to assess and develop potential Clean Energy Link transmission projects, including the procurement of long-lead items, as well as expanding the South West Interconnected System in the central, south, and northern sections.
The $500 million funding is designed to unlock Western Australia’s strategic industrial areas (SIAs) and to pave the way for the state to become a global clean energy powerhouse.
Western Australia is home to 13 SIAs spanning the entire state, including Browse, Boodarie, Burrup, Maitland, Anketell, Ashburton North, Oakajee, Kwinana, Rockingham, Kemerton, Shotts, Mungari and Mirambeena.
There has been significant interest in access to industrial land across Western Australia for renewable hydrogen, critical minerals processing and other job-creating industries.
The Strategic Industries Fund will be used to prepare land for future industrial projects, ensuring Western Australia is primed for sustainable growth and development.
An initial $125 million will be invested to open up new industrial land at Latitude 32 in Kwinana, given the strong demand for land in Perth’s industrial heartland – with recent allocations in the Kwinana and Rockingham SIAs towards a range of job-creating projects.
A further $20 million will be allocated to develop general industrial land in Karratha and in the Peel region, while $20 million has been set aside to unlock land in the Goldfields and South West.
Those investments build on the $35 million investment into the Industrial Land Development Fund included in 2023’s Budget, which has progressed planning works on priority SIAs at the Pilbara.
The Strategic Industries Fund is on top of the $160 million industrial lease incentive scheme announced late last year, designed to attract clean energy projects to SIAs.
Western Australia Premier, Roger Cook, said, “Western Australia is the engine room of the nation’s economy, and I want to make sure our state becomes a global clean energy powerhouse.
“We have the renewable resources, skills and trading partnerships to become home to job-creating clean energy mega-projects, and our Strategic Industries Fund will help to unlock the industrial land we need to get these projects off the ground.
“This $500 million fund will open up industrial land right across our regions and in Perth, helping us to attract the major clean energy industries of the future to Western Australia.
“My government will always do what’s right for Western Australia, and that means setting up our state’s economy for the long term.”
Western Australia Lands Minister, John Carey, said, “Through the 2024–25 State Budget and a major $500 million investment, the Western Australia Government continues to facilitate and support more clean energy production across metropolitan and regional Western Australia.
“Our 13 strategic industrial areas each attract important investment into the state to grow emerging industries and support local jobs.
“Our government remains focused on supporting renewable energy industries that will help transform and future-proof our economy, while creating skilled local jobs for the future.”
Western Power welcomed the funding, which includes a $324 million investment into the state’s main electricity network to enable industry to expand and unlock job-creating renewable energy projects.
The investment will fund Western Power to continue assessing and developing potential Clean Energy Link transmission projects, including the procurement of long-lead items.
Clean Energy Link transmission projects have been identified to meet renewable generation demand for Western Australia’s future, expanding the South West Interconnected System in the central, south and northern sections.
This investment builds on the more than $4 billion committed to unlocking Western Australia’s cleaner, affordable and reliable energy future through investment in wind generation, battery systems and the electricity grid over the past 12 months.
The Western Australia Government has also allocated $147.6 million to support the development of common user network infrastructure in the North West Interconnected System, designed to open up new opportunities for clean energy, subject to Traditional Owner negotiations.
Other new investments include:
- $18.4 million for the deployment of 50 Standalone Power Systems in Esperance and the Mid Wes
- $7.5 million to fund rebuilding the Blackstone remote community’s power station
- $4.5 million to buy existing power station assets in Ardyaloon, Bidyadanga, Beagle Bay, Djarindjin Lombadina and Warmun
The additional investments in the 2024-25 Budget bring the total investment by the Western Australia Government into the energy transition to more than $5.4 billion since 2017, including new generation, transmission and storage.
Featured image: A power station in Western Australia. Courtesy of Western Power.
