W.A. energy minister quits after guiding radical switch from coal to renewables

Western Australia state energy minister Bill Johnston has announced his plans to step down from Cabinet, and to quit parliament at the next election, after setting up the roadmap for a dramatic reshaping of the world’s biggest standalone grid.

Johnston made the bombshell announcement on the last day of parliament for the year, telling journalists he wants to spend more time with his children and grandchildren, and switch on the BBQ at home for the first time.

“By the time of the next election, I will have served WA Labor in a full-time role for more than 27 years. I think that is a long time for anyone and certainly long enough for me,” he said.

Johnston, 61, became minister for energy in late 2018 and is credited with achieving more in his five years than any other state energy minister in W.A. had done in the previous 20.

W.A. had been a laggard on renewables and the previous Coalition government had a deliberate policy not to encourage any new wind and solar projects, declaring it would prefer to buy renewable energy certificates from other states.

But W.A. now has one of the most ambitious renewable energy plans in the world, driven by a huge desire from mining giants and industrial companies to seek cheap and clean power to lower their cost of production, and to meet international demand for low carbon products.

The state released a new demand forecast earlier this year that suggested it would need more than 50GW of wind and solar to meet forecast demand for EVs, households electrification and green hydrogen and industrial uses.

It has embarked on a major program to upgrade its grid, and has written a number of contracts for big batteries that are designed to shift the output of rooftop solar from the middle of the day to the evening peak, and to help fill the gaps created when the last of its ageing coal fired power generators retires before the end of the decade.

Johnston issued a statement announcing his retirement, and while it mentioned some of his achievements as a local member, it did not cite any of the accomplishments as energy minister.

Premier Roger Cook said Johnston had steered WA’s transition to renewable energy – delivering the state’s biggest ever investments into renewable energy generation and storage, and putting in train the transformation of the State’s electricity grids.