Zero Cost Energy Future

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:37): My question is directed to the Minister for Environment and Water. I ask the minister whether he can provide the house with an update on SA Water's Zero Cost Energy Future project and how that is benefiting the state.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:38): I thank the member for Devonport for his interest in this project. As members would be aware, there is a commitment by the Marshall Liberal government to become a net zero emissions economy by 2050. Even more importantly, in my view, is that really ambitious but realistic target to reach our 2030 goal of a 50 per cent reduction in 2005 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. That is a goad to action for the government, for the business community and for the broader community as well.

It is a real opportunity for South Australia to continue that bipartisan leadership that we have had in the space of climate action and continue to push the boundaries nationally and internationally when it comes to decarbonising our economy, showing leadership both in terms of new technologies and in terms of the ideas economy and driving forward our leading commitment towards that low carbon future that we believe will be an underpinning part of our state's economy into the future.

We announced in late last year the Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, which outlined a whole range of initiatives that the state government would move forward with as part of our commitment towards that 2030 and 2050 goal. One of those, which has been led by SA Water, is the Zero Cost Energy Future project, which was developed by staff within SA Water.

They have shown real leadership and they aim to become certainly the first utility in Australia, and to lead the world in terms of water utilities, in taking that organisation as much as they can off the grid by a huge investment in renewable energy—not only energy creation but also storage to ensure that when energy is needed it can be deployed from storage options. The project is really substantial.

We know that SA Water is one of the largest energy users in the state. In the previous financial year, its energy bill was some $86 million, so the opportunity to invest in renewables and storage and drive down that energy bill will ultimately also flow on to customer water bills when water prices are determined. It is a win-win here. It is a win for our environment, showing that international leadership and also flowing through to water prices.

The member for Davenport's personal interest in this project will of course be related to the Happy Valley Reservoir, where there's a substantial solar array. In fact, one of the largest moveable solar arrays in the world has been installed, with some 30,000 solar panels there at Happy Valley Reservoir, adding to 350,000 solar panels which have been installed at SA Water sites right across the state, at some 35 sites across the state, generating 242 gigawatt hours of energy. This is equivalent to the power needs of 50,000 South Australian homes.

This is an exciting project. It is a project where we are demonstrating real national and international leadership, driving down the cost of water, driving down greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrating what a world-leading decarbonised utility looks like.