Power outages in Perth yesterday and today during peak demand, reported problems of coal mining contract deliveries, problems of oil leaks polluting the environment, and gas supply problems from the North West Shelf twice creating an energy generation crisis for Perth and the south-west in recent years, underscores the need for more urgent action to create diversified generation capacity in the state, according to the Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association Inc. (WA SEA).

"The key is ensuring a diversity of energy supply for electricity production. Over-reliance on one or two sources of supply is not wise. If we had moved faster in the past decade to commission a variety of new renewable energy projects across Western Australia, coal contracts and gas outages would undoubtedly be of less concern," says Prof Ray Wills, Chief Executive of WA SEA.

"Critics of renewable energy not prepared to broker change in energy generation have said renewable energy comes with risks of supply. I suggest these risks are no greater than we are experiencing in the supply of energy from fossil fuels, and arguably less risky because of renewable energy projects can be placed close to the point of consumption, reducing the need for long transmission wires in remote places."

"Non-renewable sources will all eventually fail, but renewable energy will continue to shine on us, to wash up on our shores, and to blow past us - without cost, without exploding, without leaking, and without a pre-purchase agreement for resource delivery required for energy generation."

"The Barnett Government must act quickly, and resolve to aggressively invest in a variety of renewable generation spread across regional and rural Western Australia - investing in a diversity of projects including additional wind farms, ramping up biomass and biogas production for electricity, actually committing to harvest the wealth of solar energy in the state using both solar thermal and photovoltaic technology, and fast-tracking the development of our wave and geothermal resources."

For example, the Barnett Government's $80 million grants scheme for mining exploration is a valuable program to support the economic development of the State. WA SEA believes the State should be spending a similar amount on exploration and development of the State's renewable energy resources, ensuring the sustainability of WA's economy.

"WA SEA has been calling on the State Government to move more rapidly on bolstering distributed generation through the south-west, and the coming May 2010 budget must offer significant change from the business as usual model of government. We need action, to tap the energy source that will be dominant in the 21st Century - renewable energy that will deliver on both energy security and on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions" says Prof Wills.

"Our state must ramp up use of Western Australia's massive renewable energy resource."