Western Australia plans to switch off its coal-fired generators by 2030 and invest A$3.8 billion ($2.63 billion) in renewables, citing an “overwhelming uptake” in rooftop solar as driving the move. The announcement by the resource-heavy state comes just as eastern Australia grapples with soaring power and gas prices due to a string of outages and problems at coal-fired power plants. Western Australia said it will invest in new green power infrastructure in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) via Synergy, the state’s largest electricity generator and retailer of gas and electricity. Coal-fired plants typically make up for more than 60% of the domestic energy market, but that has now declined by more than a quarter as demand for gas-fired generation rises amid surging global prices. That, in turn, has driven up Australia’s electricity prices to unprecedented levels. The state will close Collie power station in […]