Collgar Wind Farm

Decarbonising the power sector plays a key role in meeting emissions reduction targets in line with the flagship goal of the Paris Agreement, limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

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As a GRESB-recognised Sector Leader in Renewable Power, Collgar Wind Farm (CWF) seeks to demonstrate climate leadership by playing its part in a net zero future. CWF has set a target to achieve net zero scope 1 and 2 emissions across operations by 2035, as well as a 2030 interim target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 70%, compared to the 2022 baseline. Our targets were informed by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Science Based Targets initiative and the jurisdictional commitments. Work is also underway to identify and estimate our scope 3 emissions, at which time we will incorporate and update our targets to include scope 3 emissions.

 

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Assumptions

CWF’s main source of emissions is from electricity used for site operations. In our baseline year (2022), over 85% of our emissions were attributable to grid imports to support our Merredin operations.

 

In developing our targets, we have relied upon assumptions about the rate at which Western Australia’s electricity market will decarbonise, based on projected emissions factors published by Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Our ability to reach our net zero targets may be impacted by material delays in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) decarbonising, and as such we have used a conservative forecast approach in our own modelling.

 

Our Climate Transition Plan

In the past 12 months, we have identified and assessed a range of emissions reduction initiatives through development of a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC). The MACC serves as a tool to guide decision-making in the prioritisation and timing of actions required to achieve our targets.

 

Some of the initiatives identified and assessed include:

• Operational strategies to optimise wind turbine controls and minimise import of grid electricity (implemented in September 2023)

• Replacement of diesel site vehicles with electric vehicles

• Alternative electricity procurement for Perth office (e.g., GreenPower or solar on office building)

• Use of solar panels and storage technology on site

• Replacement of gasses with a high Global Warming Potential (a value specified for determining carbon dioxide equivalence) with low or zero emission alternatives (e.g., Sulphur Hexafluoride (commonly referred to as SF6) is used in high voltage equipment as a safety and stability measure to prevent overloading and short-circuiting. SF6 has a Global Warming Potential measure of 23,500.)

 

Our mitigation hierarchy is avoidance, reduction, substitution and offsetting. CWF will reserve the use of offsets only for residual emissions where abatement opportunities are unavailable or not practical.

In the coming year, we will focus on publishing a comprehensive Climate Transition Plan outlining the actions that will be undertaken to meet all targets as well as further details on our assurance and reporting approach.

 

Climate Governance

CWF is committed to ensuring its internal systems and processes result in effective climate oversight, accountability and transparency. We will regularly review our climate strategies, policies and targets to ensure they are effective and science based.

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ESG oversight sits with CWF’s Board of Directors, who have approved these targets and this statement.

As a reporting entity under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, CWF must disclose its scope 1 and 2 emissions, and these reports are independently assured from time to time. In addition, CWF’s broader approach to and progress against our net zero targets will be disclosed in Collgar Renewables’ annual Sustainability Report, for which we are committed to independent verification.

 

Click here to learn more about Collgar's approach to sustainability.