{"id":427014,"date":"2026-01-21T05:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T05:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427014\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T05:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T05:08:16","slug":"wa-premier-roger-cook-extends-embattled-griffin-coals-lifeline-citing-energy-security-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427014\/","title":{"rendered":"WA premier Roger Cook extends embattled Griffin Coal’s lifeline, citing energy security concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Australian taxpayers will continue to prop up a foreign-owned coal mine critical to the state’s main power grid after Premier Roger Cook said the lights would go out if it failed.<\/p>\n

Mr Cook this morning revealed the state government would extend yet another lifeline to Griffin Coal, a beleaguered mine near Collie, 180 kilometres south of Perth.<\/p>\n

The mine has been in receivership since 2021, when its Indian owners pulled the plug after years of operational difficulties and mounting losses.<\/p>\n

Griffin has more than $1 billion in debt.<\/p>\n

At a press conference in Collie, Mr Cook said the government would end up ploughing more than $300 million into subsidising Griffin’s operations under a funding deal set to expire in June.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Premier Roger Cook announces the extension in Collie on Wednesday. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

And while the premier had previously stressed there would be no more money once the deal ended, he acknowledged that position had changed.<\/p>\n

Under a new, “in-principle” deal, he said Griffin’s licence to operate would be extended by up to five years, while its customers would pay more for the coal it supplies.<\/p>\n

Among those customers is Bluewaters, a 440MW coal-fired power plant that produces about 15 per cent of the power generated in WA’s biggest electricity grid.<\/p>\n

But Mr Cook said the government would still be required to chip in money to keep Griffin afloat, albeit at a “drastically” lower rate than before.<\/p>\n

“I will reveal all those costs in Parliament once the agreements have been finalised,” Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Collie, 200km south-east of Perth, is home to a big battery as part of the government’s transition to renewables. (ABC News: Clint Jasper)<\/p>\n

The premier said the latest agreement, and the hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, aimed to provide some certainty to a coal mining and power generation industry that was struggling amid rapid change.<\/p>\n

He said the government had \u201cinherited some broken contracts, unsustainable contracts which represented a risk to energy security\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the heart of those remarks was an historic contract between Griffin and its main customer, Bluewaters, under which the miner was forced to sell coal at a loss.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Griffin’s coal mine is receiving another lifeline. (ABC News: Hugh Sando)<\/p>\n

Mr Cook said as problematic as those arrangements were, both Griffin and Bluewaters would still be needed until at least 2030, meaning a compromise was essential.<\/p>\n

“If we did not intervene, it would’ve meant we were switching the lights off in Western Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s not acceptable. And that’s why I intervened in the way I did.”<\/p>\n

End of coal ‘rock-solid’<\/p>\n

Despite the extension of Griffin\u2019s state agreement, both the Premier and Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson insisted the government\u2019s timetable to closing down state-owned coal generators was on track.<\/p>\n

The government plans to shut the Collie and Muja generators in 2027 and 2029, respectively, in a move that some observers have labelled as unrealistic.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amber-Jade Sanderson reaffirms Labor’s commitment to retire state-owned coal-fire power stations by 2030. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

Ms Sanderson said there was a wave of investment in renewable energy that was about to wash through WA\u2019s main grid.<\/p>\n

She acknowledged that some projects including proposed wind farms would not happen, but there was a sufficient number of others which would go ahead and make the replacement of coal possible.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important that people understand that [state-owned power stations] do not rely on Griffin,” Ms Sanderson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose retirement dates are set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are really end-of-life assets and they are going to be sweated to the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there isn\u2019t an option of extending those assets for the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier also announced a “transition taskforce” to develop a detailed proposal on the future of the coal assets in the Collie region.<\/p>\n

It will consider whether the two coal mines in the area could be more efficiently mined by a single entity \u2014 and the issue of mine rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

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