Lead agency:  Infrastructure SA, transitioning to the Office of the Coordinator General when established

Timeframe: Policy 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• South Australia has the minerals, processing and industrial capabilities, and renewable resources the world needs to decarbonise. However, many of our resources are remote and lack the scale required to underwrite the significant investment in infrastructure needed to bring products to market.
• We have Australia’s largest operating copper mine and reserves, with global copper demand forecast to double by 2035.
• With over seven billion tonnes of economically demonstrated magnetite ore, the potential for the green iron and green steel industry is immense, with a 2.5 million tonnes per annum direct reduced iron plant forecast to create 800 permanent jobs and $3 billion gross state product per annum over 25 years.
• The SA Government is introducing legislation to establish an Office of the Coordinator General who will have the ability to coordinate diverse needs for common user infrastructure, noting this will also require a collaborative, whole of government effort from key agencies. Infrastructure SA has been allocated implementation responsibility until the Office is established.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Delivery 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• Access to secure, reliable, and affordable water is needed to unlock the state’s economic priorities and support our communities.
• Water supply constraints are currently being experienced in the Far North, Upper Spencer Gulf, and eastern Eyre Peninsula regions of South Australia, which are reliant on constrained resources such as the Great Artesian Basin and the River Murray.
• A climate-independent water source is required to unlock economic growth in the emerging green iron industry to capitalise on the growing demand for minerals critical to global decarbonisation, such as copper.
• As a response, the South Australian Government is leading the Northern Water project, which involves a commercial model that aggregates demand from multiple users, minimising the financial risk to the state.
• Economic modelling forecasts that the Northern Water project will contribute an additional average $5.2 billion to gross state product and employment of over 4,200 full time equivalent staff each year.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Delivery 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The Braemar Province has enormous potential to contribute to green iron industry, with over seven billion tonnes of defined magnetite resources across different tenement holders.
• The lack of access to a sustainable, economical, and reliable bulk water supply is a major constraint to growth of the province and the state’s ability to improve productivity through value-add activities.
• Numerous studies have been undertaken with no viable solution confirmed.
• Its relative remoteness means providing infrastructure to the Braemar Province will be capital intensive, with a risk that proponents may develop individual project solutions that do not deliver the most efficient outcome to unlock the province.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Delivery 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The design of the national electricity market in the 1990s is not well suited to the current needs of the market, that is in rapid transition, with a potential step change in demand and intermittent generation capacity.
• The current national frameworks mean the reliability and security of our network is exposed to decisions and events that happen interstate.
• The step change in demand and required investment in generation and transmission will need to be tied to industry policy in South Australia.
• The energy transition will require significant investment and future energy prices will be influenced by the required return on those investments. Ensuring that investment is as efficient, and derisked as much as possible, will keep downward pressure on pricing.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Delivery 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• South Australia has seen a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources with renewables contributing 74% of the electricity mix in 2023. The State Government has a target that electricity generation will be sourced from 100% renewables by 2027.
• The decarbonisation of our electricity network is a competitive strength for South Australia, but electricity needs to be affordable, reliable and secure to maintain this competitiveness.
• To achieve this, our mix of renewables needs a sufficient supply of flexible firming generation capacity. While batteries are likely to play an important frequency and grid stability role, for the foreseeable future the network is likely to require gas peaking plants to play this role.
• Firming capacity achieved through gas peaking plants will maintain reliability in the system through extended wind and solar droughts, help maintain system strength and should reduce some of the volatility in retail prices.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 10 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The state will have an ongoing need for gas for power generation, industrial purposes, and liquid fuels for transport. Gas and liquid fuels presented around 75% of state total energy consumption in 2023.
• Details of the transition pathway to a 100% net zero energy system by 2050 are uncertain. Economical solutions will need to be adopted as they become both technically and commercially feasible.
• With gas and liquid fuels having a role over the next 20 years, the state needs to identify the pathway to decarbonise these energy sources and the infrastructure required.
• Gas will be key to realising the green iron opportunity until hydrogen is able to be commercially produced at scale.
• The supply of gas to Whyalla and Port Pirie is currently constrained by infrastructure capacity. Port Augusta currently has no gas network.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 10 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The state will have an ongoing need for gas for power generation, industrial purposes, and liquid fuels for transport. Gas and liquid fuels presented around 75% of state total energy consumption in 2023.
• Details of the transition pathway to a 100% net zero energy system by 2050 are uncertain. Economical solutions will need to be adopted as they become both technically and commercially feasible.
• With gas and liquid fuels having a role over the next 20 years, the state needs to identify the pathway to decarbonise these energy sources and the infrastructure required.
• Gas will be key to realising the green iron opportunity until hydrogen is able to be commercially produced at scale.
• The supply of gas to Whyalla and Port Pirie is currently constrained by infrastructure capacity. Port Augusta currently has no gas network.

Lead agency: Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 20 years

The case for change - In brief:

• South Australia needs efficient freight networks to support the complete supply chain, maintain our competitive position and support our products getting to market efficiently .
• High productivity vehicles carry more freight per vehicle, resulting in fewer vehicles required to move the same freight . To maximise benefits, the network design needs to contemplate the origin and destination of key freight tasks.
• The Adelaide Hills forms a barrier to efficient freight movements with restrictions on the decent. Alternative free flowing corridors would improve congestion, safety and efficiency for some freight tasks. This should consider a longer-term southern connection to the North South Corridor to leverage a completed Torres to Darlington.

Lead agency: Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 20 years

The case for change - In brief:

• Intermodals connect different modes of transportation and include warehousing and supply chain services that enable on-site processing, helping to create an integrated freight network. They are a critical enabler for modern, efficient supply chains.
• Enhancing the efficiency of our intermodals and developing additional intermodals at strategic points across the state will help drive our economic vision and global competitiveness.
• Where rail is proven to be a more efficient mode for a particular freight task, it
  could help underpin a business case for investment in intermodals to improve
  the overall freight efficiency, while also reducing demand on our road network.

Lead agency: Department of the Premier and Cabinet

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 10 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The Le Fevre Peninsula and the Port of Adelaide are critical economic, social, and environmental assets for the state and are undergoing unprecedented levels of investment, largely driven by the Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) submarine program.
• A significant increase in vehicle movements is forecast in a spatially constrained environment. Strategic planning is required to ensure the infrastructure is in place to support the economic activity and optimise the opportunity for the State.

Lead agency: Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years, delivery 5 to 20 years

The case for change - In brief:

• The pipeline of renewables projects requires over-dimensional loads to be imported by ship, inspected and transported to dispersed, distant locations across South Australia.
• This is creating demand for additional import facilities capable of handling the volume and large size of materials required. The associated land-side corridors, appropriate customs and biosecurity requirements, and common-user infrastructure needs will also need to be considered.
• Currently, Port Adelaide is South Australia’s only port accredited for customs and border security imports. As multiple large projects progress in regional areas, this single port of entry increases project delivery constraint, cost, and risk.

Lead agency: Department for Energy and Mining

Timeframe: Planning 5 to 10 years

The case for change - In brief:

• Carbon capture and storage is an emerging opportunity for South Australia, which will support meeting net zero goals for hard to abate industries and complement the State Prosperity Project. We are well positioned due to our depleted oil and gas basins and a progressive regulatory framework.
• South Australia has an opportunity to establish an industry that uses carbon dioxide for industrial processes including sustainable fuels, and storage in depleted oil and gas basins.
• A carbon capture aggregation hub around Whyalla with a pipeline to the Cooper Basin near Moomba is a viable option.
• There is a growing international market for sustainable fuel products, with Japan setting targets for e-methane to decarbonise their gas networks.
• The Upper Spencer Gulf is ideally placed as the basis for an initial industry. The existence of the Port Bonython Jetty and liquid fuels export facility, connected to the Cooper Basin, with the pipeline easements means many elements of the requisite infrastructure and corridors already exist.

Lead agency: Department of State Development

Timeframe: Planning 0 to 5 years

The case for change - In brief:

• Carbon capture and storage is an emerging opportunity for South Australia, which will support meeting net zero goals for hard to abate industries and complement the State Prosperity Project. We are well positioned due to our depleted oil and gas basins and a progressive regulatory framework.
• South Australia has an opportunity to establish an industry that uses carbon dioxide for industrial processes including sustainable fuels, and storage in depleted oil and gas basins.
• A carbon capture aggregation hub around Whyalla with a pipeline to the Cooper Basin near Moomba is a viable option.
• There is a growing international market for sustainable fuel products, with Japan setting targets for e-methane to decarbonise their gas networks.
• The Upper Spencer Gulf is ideally placed as the basis for an initial industry. The existence of the Port Bonython Jetty and liquid fuels export facility, connected to the Cooper Basin, with the pipeline easements means many elements of the requisite infrastructure and corridors already exist.