WA Energy Minister Francis Logan said yesterday the new initiatives would provide clear benefits for remote and regional communities in WA, including more reliable and cleaner energy supplies.

The $18 million expansion of the RRPGP would allow rebates to be offered to small and medium-sized renewable energy systems in rural areas on the fringe of the main electricity grid.

Previously, the rebates only applied to systems in remote communities.

"This is great news for increasing the use of renewable energy in regional WA," Logan said.

"These renewable energy systems will help to meet local electricity demands, reducing the amount of electricity that has to be supplied from centralised power stations and transmitted over long distances.

"This will improve the quality of power supplies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and assist the local renewable energy industry."

The RRPGP is funded by the Federal Government from money collected from the diesel fuel excise and administered in WA by the State Government's Sustainable Energy Development Office.

"We have been negotiating with the Commonwealth for two years to extend the scope of the program," he said.

Projects that may be supported under the expanded scheme include small to medium-sized solar and wind power systems and bioenergy projects that use plantation forestry or agricultural wastes for electricity generation.

Logan said the proposed Kalbarri wind farm would be the first major project supported by the expanded program.

He said the State Government and the RRPGP would each contribute $1.9 million to the construction of the 1.6MW wind farm, which will involve the installation of two wind turbines and a state-of-the-art control system, to be built by Verve Energy, on the southern outskirts of the town.

The wind farm is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4500 tonnes annually and is due for completion by May 2007.