WA's rooftop solar so popular power privatisation not an option, says expert

Prof Philip Jennings, a renewable energy expert, says investors would be unlikely to be interested in unprofitable power networks

Western Australia would not be able to privatise its electricity assets "even if they gave it to them for nothing" because the popularity of rooftop solar panels has made state-owned power stations unprofitable, a renewable energy expert has said.

Prof Philip Jennings, a lecturer in energy and physics at Curtin University, said the uptake of solar was a looming problem for the Barnett government, which has indicated it may consider privatising some or all of its energy assets after the 2017 state election.