‘Be enlightened’ stories relate to pillars of our corporate strategy and key performance indicators.
View our stories that demonstrate our corporate strategy in action.
- We are leading the charge in WA
- We are retiring and rehabilitating for the future
- We are committed to building energy education
- We are developing future energy professionals
- We are preparing our people for future opportunities
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We are leading the charge in WA
The Kwinana Battery Energy Storage System (KBESS1) facility will provide 100 MW of energy capacity and 200 MWh of energy storage to the South West Interconnected System.
In addition to this, a second Kwinana Battery Energy Storage System (KBESS2) facility and a Collie Battery Energy Storage System (CBESS) facility were announced in April 2023.
The batteries will make our electricity system more secure and facilitate the continued uptake of renewables. The battery storage units will achieve this by soaking up excess solar energy during the day, discharging energy in the evenings to offset the loss of solar generation at sunset, and using the ability to charge and discharge large amounts of energy rapidly to help dampen fluctuations in renewable electricity supply caused by clouds and wind.
The KBESS1 project delivers, in part, on our corporate strategy to build storage assets to replace coal-fired power stations.
The past year has seen more than 2,700 m3 of concrete foundations poured, over 70 km of electrical cable laid, and more than 5,500 tonnes of hi-tech equipment installed at the KBESS1 site.
The KBESS1 facility is a first-of-its-kind in the Wholesale Energy Market. In collaboration with national regulator Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), our delivery partners Western Power, New Horizons Australia and subcontractor Genus Industrial Services, KBESS1 has helped pave the way for future storage projects by building local Western Australian knowledge and capability in large-scale battery storage systems.
With the connection to the grid and the facility substation now energised, the KBESS1 project has commenced commissioning and testing, progressively charging and discharging larger portions of the battery to ensure it meets all technical and regulatory requirements. The facility is forecast to be fully operational and trading in the market early in financial year 2023-24.
We are also building a second battery next to KBESS1 at Kwinana Power Station. This second battery, KBESS2, will be able to charge and discharge energy at a rate of 200 MW with 800 MWh of energy storage, four times the size of KBESS1.
In addition to the Kwinana batteries, we are also developing CBESS. The Collie battery will be the biggest government owned battery in Australia and will provide 500 MW for up to four hours.
The batteries mark significant progress towards our strategic objective of building 1,100 MW of energy storage by 2030.
As part of our community engagement, Synergy organises monthly tours to showcase the KBESS1 facility to interested stakeholders.
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We are retiring and rehabilitating for the future
As Western Australia transitions to a renewable energy future, Synergy is in the process of decommissioning, demolishing, remediating and reusing the site of the old coal fired Kwinana Power Station.
The Kwinana Power Station was shut down in 2015. In 2016, the Kwinana Rehabilitation Project was created to undertake the decommissioning and demolition of six retired coal, oil and gas-fired steam generating units.
In 2022-23, Kwinana Power Station decommissioning continued with the removal of cladding and insulation from site structures and equipment. Demolition of some retired structures including the old administration building and Stage C precipitators has occurred.
In financial year 2022-23, the construction of a new fire water pump station, gas generation operations building (Kambarang) and water treatment plant was completed.
As part of this project a bespoke mast climber is being designed to help us deconstruct the two large chimney stacks on site. This mast climber, which can be adjusted to suit the stack diameter, is being engineered and fabricated in Spain and is expected to arrive on site late 2023.
The mast climber provides a working platform that can be raised and lowered as required. Two mini excavators will be positioned on the working platform and will work to deconstruct the chimney stacks by knocking brickwork down inside the stack itself.
This approach is being used to improve safety and will ensure the stacks are deconstructed in a manner that will have as little as possible impact on the site.
Phase 7 of the Kwinana Power Station decommissioning is due to commence in early 2024 and will involve demolition of the coal bunkers, boilers, turbines and most of the turbine hall structure.
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We are committed to building energy education
Synergy is pleased to be supporting Western Australian students in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) learning, and helping to make a positive contribution to our future generations and the local communities in which we operate.
For six years, Synergy has partnered with Science Teachers Association of Western Australia to engage and educate the next generation of Western Australians on the benefits of renewable energy.
The Synergy Schools Solar Challenge offers a unique opportunity for young minds to build STEM skills and knowledge by learning about solar energy, battery technology and engineering principles.
Event locations
- Metro north – Hillarys
- Metro south - Martin
- Albany
- Bunbury
- Collie
- Geraldton
- Kalgoorlie
- Grand final- Murdoch University
Burrendah Primary School and Kingsway Christian College were the winners of our Synergy Schools Solar Challenge in 2023.
The Challenge was held in Albany, Bunbury, Collie, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and at two Perth metropolitan locations.
During the Challenge, 690 year 6 and year 8 students from more than 130 Perth metropolitan and regional schools, designed and built their own solar-powered cars, to race against teams from other schools.
The sun didn’t want to shine in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Albany on race day, but the students still got to participate, as the solar cars were equipped with batteries which could be switched on if there is insufficient solar power. Just like our energy transition plan, storage and batteries are essential to enable greater take up of renewable energy.
Total distance travelled on solar power across the whole 2023 Schools Solar Challenge was 12.2km, which is just over 30 laps of a standard Olympic stadium, powered by the sun and our students’ science and engineering skills.
We hope to inspire and educate our future energy leaders through the Challenge to support a more sustainable future for all Western Australians.
In addition to Synergy Schools Solar Challenge, we also had a Synergy Team Solar Challenge in February 2023 for our employees
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We are developing future energy professionals
Synergy has been recognised as the 18th top graduate employer Australia-wide for 2023*.
Synergy runs a successful graduate program that fosters and develops new talent and creates employment opportunities in the energy sector.
The graduate program is part of our commitment to science, technology, engineering, and maths
(STEM) learning.
- Gives our graduates the opportunity to rotate through various areas of the business
- Provides opportunities for graduates to undertake public speaking opportunities, which includes end-of year graduate presentations
- Facilitates workshops that help to develop key energy industry skills
- Provides graduates with mentors who assist them to navigate the workforce
- Working with real-time event stream and telemetry data
- Discovering how to write code that processes and manages large amounts of data to deliver key insights to stakeholders and perform calculations rapidly and at scale
- Developing relationships with our external suppliers and vendors through a procurement lens and a project lens. This included conversing with our vendors, liaising with them about their expired insurances and communicating with third-party installers while on our sites to commission assets for Project Symphony
- Synergy welcomed 10 new graduates
- Synergy achieved a new benchmark for our highly successful graduate program following top-35 rankings in 2021 and 2022
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We are preparing our people for future opportunities
On 5 August 2019, when the Western Australia Premier announced the planned closure of Muja Power Station Stage C, Synergy embarked on a journey to bring to life Synergy’s Workforce Transition program.
We had a simple premise for our transition journey, to empower our people to shape their own future so no one is left behind.
We recognise that everyone has different circumstances and we have adopted a people-first, co-creation approach to our transition. This inclusive approach allows everyone to have a voice and be involved in making decisions, not only about their own individual plans, but also in the design of the transition program, and the future structure and operating model of Muja Power Station.
During our Workforce Transition program we are focused on the fact that future planning needs to involve the whole community, transition plans need to be tailored to employees (rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach), and we recognise that State Government support is critical for a successful transition.
So far during Synergy’s transition:
370 individual transition plans have been developed (covering 270 Synergy employees and 100 long-term contractors)
- Through this process each person is working towards one of four transition pathways: continuing at Muja Power Station, redeployment to other Synergy sites, a new career outside the organisation, or transitioning to retirement
More than 40 people are part of our transition team, helping to implement our Workforce Transition plan
- The team is responsible for developing an onsite transition centre, an online information portal, cocreating our future operating model and designing new ways of working based on two-unit operations beyond 2024
20 employees on our transition training committee
- They are directly involved in the design, implementation and communications of Muja C transition training and transition support programs for our employees and contractors
74 transition courses and support programs have been activated; engaging 22 different registered training organisations
More than 900 courses have been completed by Muja Power Station employees and contractors
- Muja Power Station Unit 5 was retired safely on 29 September 2022, after more than 40 years in operation
We have now reset our transition program and are focused on activities for the upcoming retirement of Unit 6, planned for late 2024, by continuing our people-first, co-creation approach Synergy was proud to be part of the 2022 Western Australia Training Awards, with Muja Power Station’s Workforce Transition program recognised as a finalist in the prestigious awards