On 27th October 2026, the Western Australia government committed to a renewable energy target of 75% by 2030–31 for its main electricity grid. [1] Normally when a government announces what looks like an ambitious clean energy target there is good reason to celebrate. A target usually implies that a government is setting its ambitions higher and is going to implement a raft of new policies to meet the goal; however, that’s not the case here.
As Sally Bogle from Rystad Energy put it during a presentation at All Energy Australia 2026: “The announcement feels more like a fait accompli than a target.” Her reasoning, based on Rystad’s research, shows that when all the projects that are currently in the pipeline are completed, WA will already be at 75% clean energy.
This is less of a target and more of a progress announcement.
The reason I find this exciting is WA has signalled that it’s moving into the electrification end-game. While the NEM now sits at close to 50% renewables, the WEM is now entering the “how do we decarbonise the last 25%” phase. The conversation is now about to shift to finishing the job, and we are well past the “is this even possible?” stage. While there is absolutely no doubt the Clean Energy Denial Network will shift the goalposts and find a new reason why “you can’t run a modern economy on renewables,” the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) is cutting through less and less.
I think this represents a significant shift. With both WA and South Australia now in the “how do we electrify the last bit?” phase, the conversation now shifts to the remaining 25% – 15% – 5%.
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