Network transparency
The finest-grained public reading of the SWIS refreshes daily, and the layer for mid-sized generation stopped in 2022
Western Power states that its interactive Network Opportunity Map is updated daily at 8:30am AWST, covering capacity and emerging opportunities at zone substation and feeder level, with spatial data available for download. The Network Opportunity Map and Transmission System Plan are annual, produced under the Electricity Network Access Code and the Electricity System and Market Rules respectively. A CKAN package_search on the western-power organisation at data.wa.gov.au returned 36 datasets on 14 August 2026, including a forward capacity series giving forecast remaining capacity per substation supply catchment in MVA bands, with editions read directly for 2026, 2027, 2028, 2030, 2033 and 2034. WP-050, the layer describing the network's ability to connect extra mid-sized generation, is marked retired with a last update of 13 October 2022.
Decision read
Cadence, granularity and access terms are three properties, and they do not line up here. The datasets are licensed rather than open: registration and agreement to Western Power's data licence are required, and the available Web Feature, Web Mapping and ArcGIS services need login credentials, so the binding constraint on using them is administrative. Solar Analytica's SWIS DER snapshot cites one Western Power source, the annual map, supporting 15 network opportunities totalling 102.06 MW; the daily and forecast layers are unread by anything we publish. Whether WP-050 was withdrawn or superseded is not answerable from the catalogue, and that question decides whether there is a real gap in the public record for mid-sized generation connection capacity as the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme threshold is announced to move from 100 kW to 1 MW.
SWISGrid operationsMethodology