SoERC 2023 Handbook

Organised by:

Hosted by:

Acknowledgement of country

University of Technology Sydney acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal People and the Gamaygal People upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders past, present and future, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.

Platinum Sponsor:

ERICA Chairs 2023

Energy Research Institutes Council for Australia (ERICA)

ERICA is a council of university energy research institutes which collectively aim to provide:

● National capacity across a broad spectrum of cutting-edge energy research, in both specialised and inter-disciplinary fields;

● High-level, evidence-based, energy policy advice to government;

● An over-the-horizon perspective on future energy opportunities and challenges that can only be informed by cutting-edge research;

● A research touch point for industry and government on energy issues of national and international significance; and

● A research-led education network for students and young researchers.

As active members of ERICA, participants agree to:

● Meet at least once per year in person;

● Attend teleconference meetings to discuss intervening and time-dependent issues requiring a collective response;

● Provide sufficient resources to enable part-time administrative support for ERICA, including a website and organisation for an annual Energy Research conference;

● Contribute to specific projects on an ‘as needs’ basis.

Membership

● Membership of ERICA by any organisation is by invitation through the agreement of existing members, and membership can be requested at any time.

● The membership is non-binding, and the consensus views represented by the Council are those of the ERICA representatives and not of their parent universities.

● The ERICA secretariat will move from one member institute to the other, each year.

● University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney are the secretariat for 2023.

ERICA members

Welcome to the 2023 State of Energy Research Conference (SoERC23). It is

In this spirit of collaboration, SoERC brings together members of the research, industry, and government communities to share their latest findings, stories of success and challenges, advancements in tech, policy reform and innovative practices. The conference also provides an opportunity for energy’s diverse players to collectively address the pressing questions around energy’s future and to plan the way forward.

Building on SoERC21’s focus on energy’s impact on climate change, this year’s program takes an active approach, asking not only what needs to be urgently done, but how it can be achieved, and who needs to be involved.

The Australian energy system is poised at a crucial stage in its development. On the one hand, we have the legacy of dependence on centralised generation and supply, based on carbon intensive fuels. On the other hand, Australia has world-leading adoption of demandside response and renewable energy and an ecosystem of energy start-ups that represent a great foundation for our energy future. There is an opportunity, and indeed a responsibility, for Australia to step up and lead in this area of critical importance.

Government policy is aligning around the Step Change scenario in AEMO’s Integrated System Plan, which would see our energy system transformed over the next decade to one dominated by renewable energy. This means the clock is ticking not just for the engineers retooling the grid, policy-makers and developers – but also for researchers if we are to have a positive impact on the energy transition.

This conference has been designed to showcase leading-edge research across disciplinary boundaries, recognising the role of technology, economics, policy and consumer practices to achieve the vision of a clean energy future. It features the demand-side of the energy system as well as the supply-side, it features decentralised energy resources as well as centralised. The conference program acknowledges that for a sustainable energy transition we need to recognise the importance of a just and fair outcome for all members of the community, and in particular the rights and opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The conference organisers are grateful to the Platinum Sponsor, the Cooperative Research Centre Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 (RACE for 2030), which is championing market transformation programs to deliver targets of reducing energy costs, cut carbon emissions and increase customer load flexibility to allow increased penetration of renewables in the grid and increased reliability.

We have been delighted that there was such a strong response to the call for abstracts, reflecting a rich and diverse set of topics and an indication of how much research is underway. We encourage delegates to network widely, enjoy the discussions with existing and new colleagues and take back even greater aspiration for creating positive change in Australia’s energy future.

fitting that this year marks a return to an in-person gathering, given the conference theme of Working together for a sustainable energy future...

SoERC23 conference organising committee

Stuart White

Co-Chair, ERICA

Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Dani Alexander

Program Lead RACE for Business, CRC RACE for 2030

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Peta Ashworth

Director, Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, Curtin University

Chris Briggs

Program Lead Energy Futures, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Gregor Verbic

Co-Chair ERICA

Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Lee White

Research Fellow, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University

Jaysson Guerrero Orbe

Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Yolande Strengers

Associate Director (Consumers), Monash Energy Institute, Monash University, Monash University

Conference program

Day one

8.30am Registration with arrival tea and coffee

9.20am Official conference opening

Prof. Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

9.35am Welcome to Country

Aunty Glendra Stubbs OAM, University of Technology Sydney Elder-in-Residence (Wiradjuri Elder)

9.45am Welcome by Platinum Sponsors

Jon Jutsen, Chief Executive Officer, RACE for 2030

9.55am Welcome and introduction to The Hon. Matt Kean MP

Prof. Vicki Chen, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor, University of Technology Sydney

10.00am Opening plenary address

The Hon. Matt Kean MP, New South Wales Treasurer and Minister for Energy

10.10am Plenary session

Benn Barr, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Energy Market Commission

Lynne Gallagher, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Consumers Australia

Stuart White, Co-Chair, ERICA, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

11.10am Morning tea

11.40am Workshop: Anticipatory planning for the Australian energy transition: a roadmap

Host: Prof. Chris Riedy, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Speakers: Dr Emi Gui, Energy Systems Lead, Climateworks Centre

Dr Roger Dargaville, Deputy Director, Monash Energy Institute

Dr Charlie Hargroves, Sustainable Development Fellow, The University of Adelaide

Homes and the energy transition

Speakers: Jenniy Gregory, Program Leader RACE for Homes, Race for 2030

Dr Yohan Kim, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Dr Lygia Romanach, Research Scientist, CSIRO

Chair: Assoc. Prof.

Kerryn Wilmot, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Decarbonisation pathways: policy and regulation

Speakers: Prof. Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre

Lyndal Bubke, Acting Director, Energy Innovation Toolkit, Australian Energy Regulator

Adjunct Assoc. Prof. Chris Dunstan, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Dani

Alexander, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Energy innovation and technology: integration of renewable energy and customer energy

Speakers: Assoc. Prof. Gregor Verbic, Co-Chair ERICA, The University of Sydney

Madison Sturgess, Energy Innovation Officer, Queensland Farmers’ Federation

Dr Thomas Longden, Research Fellow, Australian National University

Chair: Ed Langham, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Day one

12:45pm Lunch and poster viewing

Poster presenters will stand by their posters to take questions

1.45pm Research panel: The just energy transition

Speakers: Assoc. Prof. Chris Briggs, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Elianor Gerrard, PhD candidate, School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania

Kate Donnelly, Corporate Engagement Analyst, Investor Group on Climate Change

Chair: Prof. Chris Riedy, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

2.45pm Afternoon tea and poster viewing

3.15pm Plenary session

Speakers: Danny Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer, New Energy Nexus

Megan Fisher, Chief Executive Officer, EnergyLab

Chair: Prof. Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

4.15pm Workshop: Building resilience in Australia’s electricity infrastructure

Host: Prof. Rosemary Lyster, Professor of Climate and Environmental Law, The University of Sydney

Speakers: Gregor Verbic, Co-Chair ERICA, Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Dr Anne Kallies, Senior Lecturer, RMIT

People, society, and institutions: just transition

Speakers: Dr Rohan Best, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University

Dr Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, Australian National University

Dr Declan Kuch, Research Fellow, Western Sydney University

Dr Yeliz Simsek, Research Fellow, Australian National University

Chair: David Roche, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

5.30pm Networking drinks and poster session

Energy innovation and technology: consumer engagement and data

Speakers: Prof. Neil Horrocks, Project Manager, The University of Queensland Martin Egan, PhD candidate, Institute of Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Dr Marnie Shaw, Research Leader, Australian National University

Assoc. Prof. Penelope Crossley, Associate Professor of Energy Law, The University of Sydney Law School

Chair: Dr Jaysson Guerrero Orbe, Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Poster presenters will stand by their posters to take questions

6.45pm Conference dinner

Speaker: Craig Reucassel

The Great Hall, University of Technology Sydney

Energy transition: user behaviour and sustainability

Speakers: Dr Danie Nilsson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CSIRO

Dr Murad Tayebjee, Senior Lecturer, University of NSW

Prof. Saman Halgamuge, Professor, The University of Melbourne

Dr Hannah Korsmeyer, Research Fellow, Monash University

Chair: Dr Tracey Colley, Research Program Manager, RACE for Business, RACE for 2030

Conference program

Day two

8.30am Registration with tea and coffee

9.00am Welcome to day two

Jon Jutsen, Chief Executive Officer, CRC RACE for 2030

9.10am Plenary address

Then Hon. Senator Jenny McAllister, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy

9.30am Plenary session

Speakers: Drew Clarke AO FTSE, Chair, Australian Energy Market Operator and Chair, ACOLA Australian Energy Transition Research Plan

Dr Gabrielle Kuiper, Senior Advisor, Smart Energy Council

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Chris Briggs, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

10.30am Morning tea and poster viewing

11.00am Research panel: Energy consumers and the future

Speakers: Prof. Yolande Strengers, Professor of Digital Technology and Society, Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University

Prof. Iain MacGill, Professor and Joint Director (Engineering), Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets, UNSW Sydney

Prof. Renate Egan, Professor and Interim CEO, UNSW Sydney Energy Institute

Prof. Nando Ochoa, Professor of Smart Grids and Power Systems, The University of Melbourne

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Gregor Verbic, Co-Chair ERICA, Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

12.00pm Decarbonisation pathways: research, policy and practice

Dr Dylan McConnell, Senior Research Associate, University of NSW

Chell Lyons, Sir Roland Wilson PhD scholar, Australian National University

Assoc. Prof. Alexandr

Akimov, Associate Professor in Banking and Finance, Griffith University

Assoc. Prof. Dani

Alexander, Program Lead

RACE for Business, RACE for 2030

Chair: Adjunct Assoc.

Prof. Chris Dunstan, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS

People, society, and institutions: just transition

Speakers: Rusty Langdon, Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Dr Sangeetha

Chandrashekeran, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Dr Nam Tran, Researcher, The University of Adelaide

David Roche, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Chair: Maartje Feenstra, Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Energy transition: renewables, networks and electric vehicles

Speakers: Angela Simonovska, PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Prof. Rosalind Archer, Head of School, Engineering & Built Environment, Griffith University

Yushan Hou, PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Soobok Yoon, PhD candidate, Monash University

Chair: Dr Stuart Johnston, Program Leader, RACE for Networks, RACE for 2030

Decarbonisation pathways: transition pathways

Speakers: Assoc. Prof. Sven Teske, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Prof. Ken Baldwin, Professor, Australian National University

Assoc. Prof. Rebecca Yang, Associate Professor, RMIT

Dr Moonyong Kim, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of NSW

Chair: Prof. Ariel Leibman, Director, Monash Energy Institute, Monash

Day two

1.15pm Lunch and final poster viewing

2.15pm Plenary panel: Decarbonisation, decolonisation and the energy transition: research and partnerships

Keynote speaker: Prof. Heidi Norman, Associate Dean (Indigenous) and Convenor Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, University of Technology Sydney

Host: Dr Sangeetha Chandrashekeran, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Speakers: Ruby Heard, First Nations Clean Energy Network, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne

Brendan Kennedy, Tati Tati elder and Enterprise Principal Fellow in Cultural Economies and Sustainability, The University of Melbourne and Life Course Centre

Jamie Lowe, CEO, National Native Title Council

3.15pm Afternoon tea and poster viewing

3.45pm Workshop: Net zero

Australia: pathways to net zero emissions by 2050

Host: Assoc. Prof. Simon

Smart, The University of Queensland

Speakers: Maria Lopez, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne

Jamie Lowe, CEO, National Native Title Council

April Reside, Lecturer in Wildlife Science at the School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, University of Queensland

Energy innovation and technology: integration of renewable energy and customers

Assoc. Prof. Jahangir Hossain, Associate Professor, University of Technology

Sydney

Dr Elizabeth Ratnam, Senior Lecturer, ANU FERL Fellow, Australian National University Dr Graham Palmer, Research Fellow, Monash University

Grace Young, Chief Innovation Officer, Wattwatchers

Chair: Prof. Gregor Verbic, Co-Chair ERICA, Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

5.00pm Networking drinks and close at 6.00pm

Energy transition: renewables, networks and electric vehicles

Speakers: Dr Anna Mortimore, Lecturer, Griffith University

Dr Scott Dwyer, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology

Sydney

Jing Zhu, PhD candidate, The University of

Melbourne

Dr Nanduni Nimalsiri, Research Fellow, Australian National University

Chair: Prof. Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS

Decarbonisation pathways: renewable energy systems

Dr Reza Fazeli, Research Fellow, Australian National University

Dr Changlong Wang, Research Fellow, Monash University

Dr Huanyu Jin, Research Fellow, University of Adelaide

Dr Rui Tang, Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Sydney

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Sven Teske, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Sponsor’s message

Jon Jutsen Chief Executive Officer, RACE for 2030

RACE for 2030 is proud to be Platinum Sponsor for the State of Energy Research Conference in 2023.

We will be working closely with our nine existing research partners (and others that wish to contribute to projects) in the coming year, particularly as we develop a plan for the next three years of our research activities.

RACE aims to catalyse the decarbonisation of energy services, while improving reliability and reducing costs. RACE seeks innovation for the clean energy transition to a distributed energy system and higher energy productivity through collaborative research.

We have practical targets for reducing carbon emission and delivering savings for energy users and distributors. Whilst it is early days (two years into our 10-year remit) to measure our impact, our forecast modelling indicates that our existing projects are leading us on the right track to our commitments of reducing CO2 emissions by 20Mt and gross energy impact of $4.9B by 2030.

Reliable, Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 (RACE for 2030) is a collaborative research centre for energy and carbon transition. Established in July 2020 with $68.5 million of Commonwealth funds and commitments of $280 million of cash and in-kind contributions from our partners, RACE for 2030 has some $300 million of total resources to invest in research, commercialisation, capacity building, market transformation and CRC operations through to 2030.

RACE for 2030’s aim is to deliver over $3.8 billion of cumulative energy productivity benefits and 20Mt of cumulative carbon emission savings by 2030.

www.racefor2030.com.au

Host’s message

The Institute for Sustainable Futures extends thanks to all those who have helped in the preparations for the State of Energy Research Conference 2023 including:

● Prof. Gregor Verbic, Co-Chair ERICA and the SoERC program committee

● Sarah Dixon, Director, Catalyst Event Solutions

● Ha Bui, RACE for 2030

● Jo Yuen, graphic designer

● Craig Reucassel

● Sarah Walter, Executive Assistant, ISF

● Tennille Jones, Events and Engagement Officer, ISF

● Clare Perry, Administration Assistant, ISF

● Amber McCulloch, Marketing and Communications Lead, ISF

● Ettore Pacilli, Marketing and Communications Assistant, ISF

● Tanya Xaybounheuang, Marketing and Communications Assistant, ISF

The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) is an independent research institute within the University of Technology Sydney. We conduct transdisciplinary, project-based research in line with our vision of creating positive change towards sustainable futures.

ISF researchers bring together expertise in a wide range of areas including engineering, architecture, economics, science, social science, international studies and political studies, to deliver practical and holistic solutions to complex problems.

We work with a wide range of clients to support them in achieving their sustainability goals and we empower a new generation of changemakers with our Graduate Research Program and suite of short courses.

www.uts.edu.au

Day one

Day One: Opening plenary address

The Hon. Matt Kean MP NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy

Matt Kean entered Parliament in 2011 and spent his early years advocating for stronger mental health policy. Elevated to the NSW Cabinet in 2017, he was appointed Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation in 2017, then appointed Minister for Energy and Environment in 2019 and appointed Treasurer in 2021.

His first Budget delivered reform to break the barriers to women’s opportunity – an investment that will pay dividends for both the economy and our society. In the 2022 Budget, he also drove education reforms to give NSW children the best start in life, cost of living relief for families across the State, and initiatives to help more people into homes.

He intends to invest in our economy and our people today to deliver a stronger, more prosperous, more sustainable future tomorrow. An outspoken critic of ‘climate denialism’ he has campaigned for greater and national action on climate change, arguing it’s not only good for the environment but it’s also good for our economy.

He committed to increasing the size of the NSW National Park estate by almost 600,000 hectares by the end of 2022 and in 2020 delivered the biggest renewable energy policy in Australia’s history.

Day one: Plenary session

Benn Barr Chief Executive Officer, Australian Energy Market Commission

Benn Barr became the Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Market Commission early in 2020, bringing with him two decades of energy and climate change experience and deep expertise in energy markets and regulation. He was previously Deputy Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. Benn’s leadership at the AEMC has coincided with the development and release of the Energy Security Board’s post-2025 market design reforms. The AEMC is heavily involved in the ESB’s work –including policy, technical and corporate support.

Benn has a strong interest in effective modern governance, pursuing this field at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He places high value on meaningful stakeholder engagement and has built the AEMC’s capacity considerably since 2020. This includes turning the pandemic’s challenges into advantages for digital engagement that can reach more, and more diverse, stakeholder groups.

ABSTRACT: While technological, market-modelling and consumer behaviour research remain vital to the energy sector’s next decade, there is also a missing link when it comes to implementation. This broad field of ‘transition to deployment’ demands more attention as we continue to accelerate towards our energy transformation and the significant sustainability goals set for 2030 and 2050. This means less emphasis on ‘what do we do?’ and more on ‘how do we make it happen, quickly?’ Research is needed on implementation areas such as pilot-topolicy development, regulatory frameworks, governance and institutions, financing schemes, social licence and more. Successful research projects will have deployment ‘baked in’.

Lynne Gallagher Chief Executive Officer, Energy Consumers Australia

Lynne Gallagher is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Consumers Australia, which is the national advocacy organisation contributing to shaping Australia’s energy future for households and small businesses. Lynne has been with Energy Consumers Australia for seven years and has over 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in strategy, policy and research roles. Prior to working in the energy sector, Lynne held senior executive roles in business and in the public sector, where she delivered major reforms that contributed to improving the financial and economic wellbeing of many Australians.

ABSTRACT: The scale and pace of decarbonisation is setting challenges in framing the complex problems to be solved in the transition to a renewable energy system and developing solutions that are enduring. In formalising the research agenda to support this transition, we must also have a shared vision for the outcomes we want to achieve. And there needs to be consensus and commitment to achieving those goals – working together, with all the science, ingenuity and innovation at our command.

These goals must be about people and our community, remembering what energy is for –to power our homes and our businesses, to achieve wellbeing and prosperity. We need to go beyond the techno-economic framing of consumers as imaginary friends if we are to both address climate change and social inclusion.

CHAIR

Stuart White

Co-Chair, ERICA Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over 30 years’ experience in sustainability research, Stuart’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes the design and assessment of programs for improving decision-making and resource use. Stuart has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.

Day one: Workshop

Anticipatory planning for the Australian energy transition: a roadmap

Accelerating just and inclusive energy transitions requires the many actors that play a role in governing energy systems to act under conditions of uncertainty, created by climate change, competition in deregulated energy markets, policy changes, accelerating technological development, and changes in customer roles and expectations. Old models of energy supply are breaking down, but what exactly will replace them remains unclear. How fast will decarbonisation take place? What transition pathways will come to the fore? What mix of technologies will emerge? To what extent will consumers participate in this energy transition?

This panel session will report on the outcomes of an Opportunity Assessment for the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (RACE for 2030) that evaluated the anticipatory capacity of the Australian energy system and identified a research roadmap to address identified gaps.

HOST: Chris Riedy Professor of Sustainability Transformations, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Chris Riedy is a transdisciplinary action researcher with a focus on sustainability transformations. He uses sociological and political theory, narrative theory and futures thinking to design, facilitate and evaluate practical experiments in transformative change towards sustainable futures. He has a particular research interest in the future of energy and its connection to climate change response. Chris led the recent Opportunity Assessment of Australia’s energy foresighting and planning capability for the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre.

Emi Gui

Energy Systems Lead, Climateworks Centre

Emi is an energy transition and decentralised energy system expert at Climateworks Centre, within Monash Sustainable Development Institute, focusing on system-level transformative solutions and knowledge collaboration to strengthen the links between energy and climate. Emi has 17 years’ experience in energy consulting and research across Australia, Asia-Pacific and Europe, and previously worked as an energy market specialist at the Australian Energy Market Operator, EnerNOC, utilities and energy trading houses. She is a member of Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET) – an independent advisory body to the UN Secretary-General since June 2022.

Roger Dargaville

Deputy Director of the Monash Energy Institute

Dr Roger Dargaville is a senior lecturer and researcher in renewable energy in the Monash University Civil Engineering department. He is an expert in energy systems and climate change. Roger specialises in large-scale energy system transition optimisation, and novel energy storage technologies such as seawater pumped hydro and liquid air energy storage. He has conducted research in global carbon cycle science, simulating the emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel and exchanges between the atmosphere, land and oceans as well as stratospheric ozone depletion.

Charlie Hargroves Sustainable Development Fellow, University of Adelaide

Charlie Hargroves specialises in sustainability and economic growth transitions. Charlie co-founded ‘The Natural Edge Project’, a team of action research academics from universities across Australia. Charlie has co-authored 5 books, two of which were ranked among the ‘Top 40 Sustainability Books’ in the world in 2010 by the Cambridge Sustainability Leaders Program. He is a member of the Club of Rome, an expert advisor to the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, and a member of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Buildings and Construction Taskgroup on Infrastructure. Charlie has a PhD in Carbon Structural Adjustment and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute.

Day one: Session

Homes and the energy transition

Jenniy Gregory

Program Leader RACE for Homes, Race for 2030

Tackling the challenges of upgrading over 1 million Australian homes by 2030

Jenniy Gregory is the new Program Leader for RACE for Homes. She joined RACE (Reliable Affordable Clean Energy) for 2030 in October 2022, coming from AGL after over seven years as Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs. Jenniy has over 25 years’ experience in the renewable energy and energy efficiency arena, working for a diverse range of organisations in Australia and overseas. She is the primary author of Financing Renewable Energy Systems, a Guide for Development Workers, funded by the Stockholm Environment Agency.

Yohan Kim

Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

How effective are the energy efficiency upgrades for vulnerable homes?

Evidence from the Victorian Healthy Homes Program

Yohan is a research principal at ISF, specialising in data analytics and modelling. Yohan works alongside experts in water, health, and energy to provide data-driven modelling and insights in delivering health and energy benefits. His latest work includes the Victorian Healthy Homes project that investigates the impact and scale of home upgrades on thermal comfort and energy usage for 1,000 vulnerable households in Victoria.

CHAIR

Lygia Romanach

Research Scientist, CSIRO

Going beyond minimum residential energy efficiency requirements: will Australian volume home builders lead the change?

Lygia Romanach is a social scientist at the CSIRO. Lygia’s research is focused on understanding residential energy efficiency from both consumers’ and industry viewpoints. Previous research includes exploring energy-related attitudes and behaviour, including the uptake of energy technology. Lygia has significant expertise in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research, having conducted interviews, focus groups and surveys for public and private external clients, both in Australia and overseas.

Kerryn Wilmot

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Kerryn Wilmot leads Cities and Buildings research programs at ISF. Her recent work has focused on defining sustainability aspirations with development teams, installing environmental sensors into a development site, considering health and wellbeing in urban environments, developing policies for energy productivity approaches, and investigating transport system capacity implications of new developments. Prior to ISF, Kerryn worked as a consultant architect, specialising in sustainability throughout her 30-year career.

Day one: Session

Decarbonisation pathways: policy and regulation

Bruce Mountain Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre

The national electricity market 25 years on: outcomes and prospects

Bruce is a well-known Australian energy economist whose research and advisory work has focused on the economic regulation of network monopolies, the analysis of retail energy markets, and the design of emission reduction and renewable energy policies. Bruce has been a long-standing advisor to governments, regulators, market participants and interest groups in Australia and internationally. His PhD from Victoria University was on the political economy of energy regulation in Australia, and he has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in England.

Lyndal Bubke

Acting Director, Energy Innovation Toolkit, Australian Energy Regulator

The Australian Energy Regulator’s new Energy Innovation Toolkit and how the regulatory environment can support the energy transition

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) exists to ensure energy consumers are better off, now and in the future. The AER’s new Energy Innovation Toolkit (EIT) supports energy innovators and start-ups navigate complex regulatory frameworks, and trial new products and services that will deliver greater choice and cheaper energy options for consumers. The EIT is delivered by the AER with the AEMC, AEMO, ESC and ARENA. Lyndal Bubke is the Acting Director of the Regulatory Sandbox team responsible for the delivery of the EIT.

CHAIR

Chris Dunstan

Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Least cost strategies for a customer-focused clean energy transition

Chris Dunstan is an economist and policy specialist with 30 years’ experience in clean energy, climate, strategic management and sustainability. Chris has facilitated major policy and program initiatives, including the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (the world’s first carbon emissions trading scheme), the NSW Energy Savings Scheme, the NSW Climate Change Fund and the AER’s $1 billion Demand Management Incentive Scheme for electricity distribution networks. Chris has led the development of many key research initiatives, including the Australian Decentralised Energy Roadmap, the national Network Opportunity Maps, the Electric Driveway and the $350 million RACE for 2030 CRC.

Dani Alexander

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Program Lead RACE for Business, RACE for 2030

Dani’s experience in the energy sector spans policy, program management, governance and engagement, all towards promoting Australia’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Dani’s research specialises in energy system flexibility with a focus on distributed energy resources (DER), both on the demand and supply side. Dani has led numerous major DER projects at ISF and initiated ISF’s work on renewable energy and load management (REALM. Dani managed ISF’s award-winning DER demonstration project Networks Renewed, which tested the network support potential of batteries and solar PV owned by residential customers. Other DER projects Dani has led include Solar Optimisation Upgrades for C&I Customers funded by the Victorian Government, the DM Incentives Review funded by ARENA, and an Evaluation of Non-Network Alternatives for Essential Energy.

Day one: Session

Energy innovation and technology: integration of renewable energy and customer energy

Gregor Verbic

Co-Chair ERICA

Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Capacity firming provided by prosumer-owned solar-battery systems

Gregor Verbic is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, The University of Sydney and Director of the Centre for Future Energy Networks. His expertise is in power system operation, stability and control, and electricity markets. His current research focuses on grid and market integration of distributed energy resources and large-scale renewables, future grid modelling and scenario analysis, and demand response. He was a recipient of the IEEE Power and Energy Society Prize Paper Award in 2006. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

Madison Sturgess

Energy Innovation Officer, Queensland Farmers’ Federation

The flow-on benefits of microgrids in agriculture

Madison is a cleantech specialist and media producer with experience across tech start-ups, agriculture, film and TV, and international development sectors. Her cleantech experience includes developing microgrids and clean energy cooking alternatives with rural Haitian communities by way of Washington DC. Madison currently works with Queensland Farmers’ Federation driving the research, feasibility, and implementation of microgrid projects for regional communities.

Thomas Longden

Research Fellow, Australian National University

Waiting to generate: an analysis of wind and solar project development lead-times in Australia’s National Electricity Market

Dr Thomas Longden is a Fellow working on the ANU Energy Change Institute’s Grand Challenge – Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific. He is based at the Crawford School of Public Policy. Thomas holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and his main areas of research interest are applied econometrics, environmental economics, energy economics and health economics. His work on energy, applied econometrics and technological change has been published in leading international journals (including Nature Energy, Climatic Change, Energy, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Energy Policy and Health Economics).

Ed Langham

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Ed specialises in low-carbon energy transitions, working with new and emerging energy market players to develop Decentralised Energy Resources to accelerate climate action. He works on energy strategy and planning, business model development, open data mapping tools and regulatory reform for the new energy landscape. Ed has driven much of the Institute for Sustainable Futures’ work on Network Opportunity Mapping and Local Electricity Trading, as concepts to keep public grid assets viable, and open up neighbourhood scale business models in an era of distributed generation and storage. He has worked extensively with local and state governments, universities, utilities and precinct developers, and served in governance roles for the Coalition for Community Energy (C4CE) and Pingala Community Renewables.

Poster presenters

Ahmad Amiruddun

PhD candidate, Monash University

Optimal energy storage configuration for Indonesia to achieve 100% renewable energy target

Ahmad is PhD student in Resources Engineering, Department Civil Engineering, Monash University. He worked in the Directorate General of Electricity, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Indonesia from 2009-2021. He has worked for several companies: Siemens (2007-2009), Schneider Electric (2007) and LG Philips Indonesia (2004-2007). His research interest is energy storage and the integration of renewable energy in Indonesia.

Vincenzo Bassi

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

The future of DER hosting capacity: smart meter data and neural networks

Mr Vincenzo Bassi holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering since 2015 and a professional degree in Electrical Engineering since 2016, both from The University of Chile (Chile). Currently, Vincenzo is a PhD candidate on Smart Grids and Power Systems at The University of Melbourne (Australia). His research is focused on Data-Driven Operation and Planning Applications for DER-Rich Distribution Networks.

Will Bodewes

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Can AI bring clean energy to developing countries?

Will Bodewes is a PhD research student at the University of Melbourne. His research takes a hands-on approach to challenges faced when implementing renewable energy microgrids for remote communities. His area of expertise focuses primarily on grid stability, nano-grids, and scalable renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Will’s research operates in tandem with both private industries as well as academic and AI advancements brought forth by Dr. Saman Halgamuge’s research group. Will hopes his research efforts help bring clean energy to every home in the world.

Arthur Gonçalves Givisiez

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Allowing higher renewable generation in Australian PV-rich distribution networks

Arthur Gonçalves Givisiez has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Juiz de fora, Brazil. He is currently at the end of his PhD in Smart Grids and Power Systems at The University of Melbourne. His PhD is focused on distributed optimal power flow applications for distribution networks with high penetration of distributed energy resources. He is also a research fellow on smart grids, in which he is responsible for assessing different implementations of operating envelopes across Australia.

Shan Jiang

PhD candidate, University of NSW

Facilitating the large-scale integration of renewables in Australia

Shan Jiang received the B.S. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 2017 and 2020, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. His current research interests include the small-signal stability and interaction analysis of power electronics dominated power systems.

Eshan Karunarathne

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

A phase group identification approach for residential low voltage networks exploiting smart meter data

Eshan Karunarathne is a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia. He received his BSc (Eng) (Hons) degree from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2017, and MSc in Electrical Engineering degree from the Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia in 2021. His research interests include modelling and analysis of distribution networks and smart meter data-driven approaches using data analytics and machine learning. He is currently working on the construction of low-voltage network models exploiting smart meter data.

Fernando Lanas

Graduate Researcher, The University of Melbourne

Exploring day-ahead forecast methods on highly granular household active power for export limit allocation

Fernando Lanas studied for his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the University of Chile, focusing on computer intelligence solutions to facilitate the integration of renewable energies at medium and low voltages. In 2022 he started his PhD at the University of Melbourne, focusing on high-granularity household forecasting using smart meter data.

Michael Liu Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Electrical model validation of real low-voltage feeders using smart meter data

Michael Liu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with The University of Melbourne (Australia). He is an expert in the three-phase modelling and analysis of electricity distribution networks, distributed energy resources (DER) coordination schemes and advanced optimisation techniques. His expertise has led to 22 peer-reviewed publications and 6 technical reports across industry projects. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering since 2012 and a PhD in Electrical Engineering since 2020, both from The University of Melbourne.

Saeede Nazari Goldar

PhD candidate, Monash University

Security-constrained integrated system planning in low inertia power systems

Saeede Nazari is an engineer and a first year PhD student at Monash university. Her research explores the techno-economic aspects of the integrated generation, storage and transmission expansion planning of power systems. Prior to arriving at Monash, Saeede completed a Master degree at Control system engineering from Amirkabir university of technology, Tehran, Iran and worked for various industries within Australia and overseas. In 2022 she was the recipient of the Zema energy studies scholarship.

Marnie Shaw

Research Leader, Australian National University

Mapping the location and impacts of congestion in the NEM

Marnie Shaw is a Research Leader in the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program and Discipline Chair of Systems Engineering at the Australian National University. Her research program combines engineering and social research to design technology that supports the people-powered push towards a resilient, decarbonised and distributed energy system.

Muhammad Zeb

Master’s student, The University of Melbourne

Future-proof planning of low voltage residential networks

Muhammad Zulqarnain Zeb is an MPhil student at Smart Grid Lab, The University of Melbourne and working on planning of future-proof low voltage residential networks under the supervision of Dr Nando Ochoa. He completed his MSc from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan. His research interests include integration of renewable sources and electric vehicles in distribution networks.

Day one: Research panel

The just energy transition

Amidst the accelerating energy transition, there has been a growing recognition that there is an opportunity and challenge to ensure it is a ‘just transition’. A ‘just energy transition’ broadly refers to an equitable process with fair outcomes for fossil-fuel regions and communities, low-income households and disadvantaged groups such as First Nations persons.

This plenary session will cover some dimensions of a just transition with three papers on experiences , including regional employment, community experiences of ‘just transition’ and a case study from the Central Highlands, Queensland.

Chris Briggs

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Building a ‘fair and fast’ energy transition? Renewable energy employment, skill shortages and social licence in regional areas

Dr Chris Briggs has a combination of climate, energy and labour market expertise developed over 25 years’ of experience in policy, research and advocacy in Federal, State and City Governments, and the university sector. Chris is a co-founder and technical director at the Business Renewables Centre – Australia. Key areas of specialisation include corporate renewable power purchase agreements, clean energy jobs and supply chains, demand flexibility and the integration of renewable energy.

Elianor Gerrard

PhD candidate, University of Tasmania

Naming, making and resisting: understanding community participation in, and experience of a “just” transition

Elianor Gerrard is a PhD student in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania. Her research investigates the community experience of (un)just energy transitions in Australian coal regions with an emphasis on understanding community participation. She holds a Bachelor of International Development and a Graduate Certificate in Community Development. Prior to research, Elianor worked extensively in communications, education and programming for not-for-profits in Australia and overseas.

CHAIR

Kate Donnelly

Corporate Engagement Analyst, Investor Group on Climate Change

Imagined futures in the context of the energy transition: a case study from the Central Highlands region of Queensland

Kate works as an analyst at the Investor Group on Climate Change, working with institutional investors to drive Paris-aligned decarbonisation at some of Australia’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters. Kate’s Masters research project examined the social dimensions of a ‘just transition’ in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, highlighting an important community perspective for inclusion in national climate policy debates. Kate has previously worked on international climate policy and negotiations under the UNFCCC and women’s rights programs in the South Pacific. She holds a Bachelor of Law from QUT and a Master of Climate Change from the ANU.

Chris Riedy

Professor of Sustainability Transformations, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Chris Riedy is a transdisciplinary action researcher with a focus on sustainability transformations. He uses sociological and political theory, narrative theory and futures thinking to design, facilitate and evaluate practical experiments in transformative change towards sustainable futures. He has a particular research interest in the future of energy and its connection to climate change response. Chris led the recent Opportunity Assessment of Australia’s energy foresighting and planning capability for the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre.

Day one: Plenary session

Danny Kennedy Chief Executive Officer, New Energy Nexus

Danny Kennedy is the CEO of New Energy Nexus, a global platform organisation for funds and incubators, with chapters and partners in the USA, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines, Uganda, Nigeria and India. He oversees the CalSEED.fund of USD $43m for very early-stage companies driving innovation and building equity in the California economy plus the USD $12m CalTestBed initiative with the University of California, Office of the President. He is an adviser to several companies and is Chair of the Board of Third Derivative, a joint venture with Rocky Mountain Institute building the world’s largest climate tech accelerator.

ABSTRACT: In 2022 the energy transition marathon turned the corner into the last stretch. Now a 15-year deployment phase of mostly known technology bundles is needed to electrify everything we can and power them with solar, wind and batteries. Danny will explore how the key agents of this effort are entrepreneurs and contractors, sole traders and SMEs of so-called developed as well as developing countries. It requires start-ups bringing reliable, low-cost electricity to the billions still without it – more so than some crop of climatetech unicorns. The role of academics and researchers will also be explored in making this mass deployment happen in time.

CHAIR

Megan Fisher Chief Executive Officer, EnergyLab

Megan is the CEO at EnergyLab – Australia and New Zealand’s largest climate tech start-up accelerator and innovation network dedicated to reaching net zero emissions. EnergyLab supports talented founders in clean energy and climate tech and connects them to the mentors, advisors, partners, peers, and investors they need to succeed. With a background in product development and innovation Megan has experience commercialising, developing, and scaling products plus driving novel technology initiatives from pilot to adoption. Megan has worked in several industries amid digital disruption as well as the enormous transition as the energy industry moves to renewables. Megan made the move from corporate to not for profit to have a positive impact on the climate tech start-up ecosystem in Australia after engaging in the more advanced international clean energy start-up ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: McKinsey states mature climate technologies could deliver 60% of emissions reduction needed to stabilise the climate by 2050. 25-30% would come from technologies that are demonstrated and another 10-15% from technologies that are still in R&D. This technology gap is driving the interest in climate focused startups with novel technologies and business models across the globe. Megan will discuss the state of the clean energy start-up innovation ecosystem in Australia, the key elements for a supportive entrepreneurial environment and share some of the successes of startups that have graduated through EnergyLab programs.

Stuart White

Co-Chair, ERICA Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over 30 years’ experience in sustainability research, Stuart’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes the design and assessment of programs for improving decision-making and resource use. Stuart has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.

Day one: Workshop

Building resilience in Australia’s electricity infrastructure

Australia has been hit by successive extreme weather events and disasters in recent years. As the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report has warned this is going to get worse. Australia has already warmed by 1.4° C. Each of the climate-induced disasters –floods and bushfires – has had a severe impact on our electricity infrastructure. When power is lost, telecommunications also fail meaning that communities are unable to stay in contact with emergency services and with each other. This conference assesses ways in which our existing grid can be made more resilient but it also looks to the resilience of our future grid in 2040. In this session, experts from the disciplines of law, engineering, and physics, in Australia and the United States, will share their perspectives on how this can be achieved.

Rosemary Lyster

Professor of Climate and Environmental Law, The University of Sydney

Rosemary Lyster is the Professor of Climate and Environmental Law in the University of Sydney Law School and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Rosemary’s special area of research expertise is Climate Justice and Disaster Law. She has published two books in this area: Rosemary Lyster and Robert M. Verchick (eds.) Climate Disaster Law (Edward Elgar: 2018) and Rosemary Lyster Climate Justice and Disaster Law (Cambridge University Press: 2015). She has published three other books with Cambridge University Press in the area of climate law. In 2018, Rosemary was selected by the Australian Financial Review as one of the 2018 ‘100 Women of Influence’ in the Public Policy category. In 2015, Rosemary was appointed by the Victorian government to a three person Independent Review Committee (IRC) to review the state’s Climate Change Act 2010 and make recommendations to place Victoria as a leader on climate change. The government accepted 32 of the IRC’s 33 Recommendations which were included in the new Climate Change Act 2017. In 2013, Rosemary was appointed a Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professor at Cambridge Law School and was a Visiting Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009 and in 2014.

Gregor Verbic

Co-Chair ERICA

Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Gregor Verbic is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, The University of Sydney and Director of the Centre for Future Energy Networks. His expertise is in power system operation, stability and control, and electricity markets. His current research focuses on grid and market integration of distributed energy resources and large-scale renewables, future grid modelling and scenario analysis, and demand response. He was a recipient of the IEEE Power and Energy Society Prize Paper Award in 2006. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

Anne Kallies

Senior Lecturer, RMIT

Dr Anne Kallies’ research focuses on energy and environmental law, with a special focus on renewable energy and electricity market regulation. Her research draws on her study and work experience in Australia and Germany. She holds a German law degree, a LLM and a PhD, both completed at Melbourne Law School. Anne has previously worked for the German Federal Environmental Agency and has been an administrator and researcher in the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law at Melbourne Law School.

Day one : Session

People, society, and institutions: just transition

Rohan Best

Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University

Equitable energy policies for households

Rohan Best is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics in the Macquarie Business School. His research focuses on policy formulation to address inequality, especially inequality of household energy outcomes. These energy outcomes include solar panel uptake and energy insecurity. Rohan worked in the financial services industry prior to completing a PhD from the Australian National University.

Rebecca Pearse

Lecturer, Australian National University

Segmented transition: patterns in a life-history study of electricity workers during transition

Beck Pearse is a sociologist who joined ANU’s School of Sociology and the Fenner School of Environment & Society in 2020. Her teaching and research focuses on inequalities and environmental policy. Beck’s current projects investigate land and labour relations in the industrial transition to a ‘net zero’ economy. She is a Chief Investigator on the ARC project, Environmental Justice and the Making of Just Food and Energy Policy (Schlosberg, Pearse, Rickards 2020-22).

CHAIR

Declan Kuch

Research Fellow, Western Sydney University

Everyday sustainability in Western Sydney

Declan is a sociologist of knowledge and emerging technologies. His research spans the social dimensions of the climate and energy transition, automation and the life sciences. He co-convened the IEA’s UsersTCP Social License to Automate task and is currently engaged in research on everyday sustainability practices in Western Sydney. Declan has published his research in leading social science journals and consulted to the Australian Council of Learned Academies on the social dimensions of science and technology.

Yeliz Simsek

Research Fellow, Australian National University

Structural change towards net zero transition

Yeliz Simsek is a Research Fellow at the Australian National University (Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions) in the area of modelling of decarbonisation trajectories and system interactions with an extensive experience in macroeconomic, energy and environmental modelling, across a number of international institutions including Spain, Turkey, Chile, UK and Australia.

David Roche

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

David Roche is a Research Director (Strategic Energy Collaborations) at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. His expertise includes distributed energy systems, flexible demand, and net zero strategy. He has over 25 years’ experience in business development and technology commercialisation, which includes project-managing some of Australia’s first grid-connected photovoltaic systems, developing Australian renewable energy standards and policy, and being a director of five ASX-listed technology start-ups. He leads business development for ISF’s Energy Futures team, and provides business development expertise to the newly-established NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub.

Day one: Session

Energy innovation and technology: consumer engagement and data

Neil Horrocks

Project Manager, The University of Queensland

Project SHIELD – a novel approach to data for networks

Professor Neil Horrocks is Director of the UQ Centre for Energy Data Innovation, which undertakes research using near-real-time big data from low-voltage electricity networks. Key research areas include network data infrastructure, network management using big data and network intelligence from big data as well as visualisation of energy data for individuals and industry professionals. For more than 30 years, Neil has been closely aligned with the Energy industry, in the fields of electricity and gas, residential and industry, retail and distribution. Prior to joining UQ, Neil was the CEO of CitySmart, Brisbane’s Sustainability Agency.

Martin Egan

PhD candidate, Institute of Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

A customer-first approach to the energy transition

Martin Egan has a had a long career in innovation, disruption and design lead development working in media, finance, publishing and education. After decades in digital product leadership he recently spent several years working with a solar tech start-up, helping the Australian public to understand and engage with the opportunities or renewable and sustainable energy. He is now undertaking PhD research into the role that customer-centric start-up processes could play in an energy transition where customers are owners of grid assets.

CHAIR

Marnie Shaw

Research Leader, Australian National University

Neighbourhood batteries and virtual power plants provide better peak demand management per kWh compared to household batteries

Marnie Shaw is a Research Leader in the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program and Discipline Chair of Systems Engineering at the Australian National University. Her research program combines engineering and social research to design technology that supports the people-powered push towards a resilient, decarbonised and distributed energy system.

Penelope Crossley

Associate Professor of Energy Law, The University of Sydney Law School

Why we need better regulation for the end-of-life renewable technologies: a case study on lithium-ion batteries

Associate Professor Penelope Crossley is an expert in the complex legal issues associated with the energy transition, including renewable energy and energy storage law, and electricity market governance. She is known for her sustained engagement with industry stakeholders, and for developing recommendations that have been directly adopted into law, international policy documents, and consumer guides. Previously, she worked as an international project finance lawyer, and global in-house counsel for BP Alternative Energy. This commercial and practical legal experience informs her research and teaching, ensuring that she focuses on real-world problems and identifies innovative commercial solutions that can be easily translated and applied.

Jaysson Guerrero Orbe

Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Jaysson has a background in electrical engineering with focus on power systems. Jaysson’s research specialises in assessing new demand-side schemes for facilitating the integration of distributed energy resources (DER) into low-voltage networks. His work has been focused on exploring novel mechanisms for implementing decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading schemes considering residential users equipped with an energy management system and photovoltaic and battery systems. Prior to ISF, Jaysson worked as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Oxford and as a Research Associate at the University of Sydney.

Day one: Session

Energy transition: user behaviour and sustainability

Danie Nilsson

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CSIRO

Applying behavioural science and reality TV to transition Australians towards sustainable housing

Dr Danie Nilsson is a behavioural scientist with 10+ years’ experience applying her research skills to a wide range of energy, environmental and conservation challenges. Currently, Danie is undertaking a postdoctoral research fellowship at CSIRO to assist in accelerating Australia’s sustainable housing market at scale, utilising innovative communication strategies.

Murad Tayebjee

Senior Lecturer, University of NSW

PlayEnergy: a massive multiplayer online game for teaching sustainable energy

Dr Murad Tayebjee is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW. He researches high efficiency solar cell device concepts. Dr Tayebjee also teaches undergraduate Sustainable Energy. Murad completed his PhD at The University of Sydney in 2012, studying solar energy harvesting materials. He then completed two consecutive fellowships: an ARENA Fellowship at UNSW and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship at The University of Cambridge.

Saman Halgamuge Professor, The University of Melbourne

Deep learning and optimisation-based approaches to forecast distributed solar generation

Saman Halgamuge, Fellow of IEEE, IET and AAIA, is a Professor in the School of Electrical, Mechanical and Infrastructure Engineering at The University of Melbourne. He served as a distinguished lecturer/speaker of IEEE (2019-21), Director/Head, Research School of Engineering of the Australian National University (ANU) (2016-18), a member of Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (2016-18), the founding Director of the PhD training centre Melbourne India Postgraduate Program (MIPP) of University of Melbourne and Associate Dean (2013-15) and Assistant Dean (2008-13) in International Engagement in the Melbourne School of Engineering.

Hannah Korsmeyer Research Fellow, Monash University

Digital energy futures: forecasting everyday life

Hannah Korsmeyer is a research fellow in the Energy Futures Research Program in the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University, which develops non-predictive speculations and scenarios for energy forecasting and demand management to guide policy and planning in the energy sector. Building on a multidisciplinary background spanning science and design, she specialises in creative and participatory methods for bringing diverse perspectives together to explore possible futures--and their implications--to inform decision-making in the present.

Tracey Colley Research Program Manager, RACE for Business, RACE for 2030

Dr Tracey Colley is a chemical/environmental engineer with a background in energy efficiency, cogeneration, carbon footprinting and Life Cycle Assessment. She is currently working as a Research Program Manager at the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre.

Day two

Day two: Plenary address

The Hon. Senator Jenny McAllister Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy

Jenny McAllister is the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese Labor Government.

Jenny was sworn into the Senate in 2015. Before this, she held various senior roles at AECOM, a global infrastructure firm. Jenny’s professional career spans both public and private sectors, in which she held senior roles that focused on infrastructure, environment management and climate change.

Jenny has served as National President of the ALP and as a member of the ALP National Policy Committee. She was co-founder of the Labor Environmental Activist Network (known as LEAN) with Kristina Keneally, a former Premier of NSW.

Day two: Plenary session

Energy transition research priorities

Drew Clarke

Chair, Australian Energy Market Operator

Chair, ACOLA Australian Energy Transition Research Plan

Drew Clarke AO FTSE is Chair of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and was until recently a Director of CSIRO. Drew’s earlier career was in the Australian Public Service in science and policy roles. He has been working in energy policy for 20 years, including as Secretary of the Department of Resources and Energy, as Australia’s representative on the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency, and in roles establishing ARENA and developing the National Energy Market.

Drew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and was awarded an Order of Australia in 2016 for services to public administration. He chairs the Energy Transition Research Committee at the Australian Council of Learned Academies.

ABSTRACT: Drew will provide a perspective on energy transition research priorities, drawing on the CSIRO report on Australian Electricity Transitions 1900 to 2050, and the ACOLA program to develop a dynamic energy transition research plan. The CSIRO report presents a review of Australian electricity transitions over the past 120 years, in the context of the current transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Five interdependent requirements for a successful Australian decarbonisation transition are identified, providing a research framework. Building on the 2021 Australian Energy Transition Research Plan, ACOLA has published five further reports addressing energy transition research themes, funding and translation. The funding and translation papers include recommendations for research policy. The next stage is development of an enduring model for updating research priorities as the transition evolves.

CHAIR

Gabrielle Kuiper Senior Advisor, Smart Energy Council

DER specialist and Senior Adviser to the Smart Energy Council, Dr Gabrielle Kuiper is an energy, sustainability and climate change professional with over 20 years’ experience in the corporate world, government and non-government organisations and academia. She was previously the DER Strategy Specialist with the Energy Security Board.

Prior to that, Gabrielle held senior executive or senior advisory energy-related positions in the Office of the Australian Prime Minister, at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), and in the NSW Government. Gabrielle currently works in climate philanthropy for an Australian charitable trust.

ABSTRACT: Energy planning and policy relies significantly on forecasts, all of which will be wrong. Basing the future on scenario variations of the past is only one way to think about the future of our energy system. Alternatively, we could look to the likely end state and see what this tells us about the consequences for our future energy system. This is particularly important for the consistently underestimated Distributed Energy Resources (DER). We don’t know when, but we know at some stage we will reach saturation levels of DER. This presentation looks at the consequences of maximum likely levels of uptake of DER based on the results of an exploratory hypothetical exercise conducted by ITP Renewables.

Chris Briggs Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Dr Chris Briggs has a combination of climate, energy and labour market expertise developed over 25 years’ of experience in policy, research and advocacy in Federal, State and City Governments, and university sector. Chris is a co-founder and technical director at the Business Renewables Centre – Australia. Key areas of specialisation include corporate renewable power purchase agreements, clean energy jobs and supply chains, demand flexibility and the integration of renewable energy.

Day Two: Research panel

Energy consumers and the future

The future of the energy system is expected to be one in which the consumer is involved to a much greater degree, both as a ‘prosumer’ of energy and where decisions about energy demand and supply by consumers are an integral part of the energy system and the sustainability of its future operation. This research panel will explore the latest research on these issues, including the importance of data and consumer feedback, as well as unpacking consumer preferences and the possibilities provided by digital futures, including how emerging lifestyle trends likely to impact future energy demand. The role of pricing and the social and technical opportunities and barriers provided by decentralised energy resources and microgrids will be explored by this panel of leading inter-disciplinary researchers.

Yolande Strengers

Professor of Digital Technology and Society, Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University

Yolande Strengers is a Professor of Digital Technology and Society at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab where she leads the Energy Futures research program. She is an Associate Director – Consumers, of the Monash Energy Institute, and Associate Dean –Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of IT. She is author of The Smart Wife (MIT Press 2020, with Dr Jenny Kennedy) and Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan 2013).

Iain MacGill

Professor and Joint Director (Engineering), Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets, UNSW Sydney

Dr Iain MacGill is a Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of New South Wales, and Joint Director (Engineering) for the University’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM). He leads work in Energy Transformation and Distributed energy systems. Iain is the Responsible Australian Expert on the International Energy Agency’s PV Power Systems Task 14 on high PV penetrations in the electricity grid and an invited expert for the technical reference groups of the Federal Government’s Australian Energy Technology Assessment, the Australian Energy Market Operator’s future energy scenarios planning process and, previously, the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Demand-Side Participation Review. Iain has a PhD (Electrical Engineering) from UNSW, and a M.Eng.Sc. (Biomedical) and B.E. from the University of Melbourne.

CHAIR

Renate Egan

Professor and Interim CEO, UNSW Sydney Energy Institute

Professor Renate Egan Leads UNSW activity in the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics and led manufacturing and industrial technology development of energy technologies in Australia, Germany, and China. She is Co-Founder of Solar Analytics, Australia’s largest independent energy monitoring provider, was named as one of Eight Great Women in the Business of Science and Solar by Renewable Energy World and was recently inducted into the Australian Smart Energy Council Hall of Fame. Renate also participates on a number of national and international panels, boards and review committees across the energy sector.

Nando Ochoa

Professor of Smart Grids and Power Systems, The University of Melbourne

Nando Ochoa has expertise in network integration of distributed energy resources (DER) and smart grids as well as his extensive portfolio of industrial and academic projects have led to more than 210 research papers, more than 80 technical reports, and two patents. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from UNI (Peru), and a Research MSc and a PhD in Electrical Power Engineering, both from UNESP Ilha Solteira (Brazil).

Gregor Verbic

Co-Chair ERICA

Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Gregor Verbic is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, The University of Sydney and Director of the Centre for Future Energy Networks. His expertise is in power system operation, stability and control, and electricity markets. His current research focuses on grid and market integration of distributed energy resources and large-scale renewables, future grid modelling and scenario analysis, and demand response. He was a recipient of the IEEE Power and Energy Society Prize Paper Award in 2006. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

Day two: Session

Decarbonisation pathways: research, policy and practice

Dylan McConnell

Senior Research Associate, University of NSW

AEMA 2.0? Governance of the energy transition

Dr Dylan McConnell is renewable energy and energy systems analyst at the University of NSW. He has extensive experience in analysing the electricity sector in Australia. Dylan’s work is focused on electricity infrastructure and governance, and the energy transition in liberalised electricity markets. He also specialises in operations research and the optimisation of electricity systems. His work is interdisciplinary and has been published in forums including the Journal of Energy Policy, the Journal of Applied Energy, the Electricity Journal, and the Journal of Environmental Sociology.

Chell Lyons

Sir Roland Wilson PhD scholar, Australian National University

In the vault: the roles of green banks in accelerating investment in the net zero transition. Case studies of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

Chell Lyons has over a decade of experience working on international and domestic climate change policy for the Australian government, most recently leading global analytics work in the international climate change branch. In 2021 she commenced a Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship on secondment to the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. Her PhD research examines the roles of public financial institutions, particularly Green Banks, in scaling up public investment and leveraging private finance in the transition to net zero emissions.

Alexandr Akimov

Associate Professor in Banking and Finance, Griffith University

Are Australian regulatory and policy frameworks ready for a DER-led energy transition?

Alexandr Akimov is an Associate Professor in Finance and Director of Sustainable Energy Policy Cluster at Griffith University. He holds a PhD in financial economics as well as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Energy Risk Professional (ERP) designations. His research interests are in energy and sustainable finance, and public finance and policy. He has published in the leading energy and policy journals such as Energy Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Australian Journal of Public Administration and Australian Journal of Management

CHAIR

Dani Alexander

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Program Lead RACE for Business, RACE for 2030

Towards a customer-centred clean energy transition –the first two years of RACE for 2030 CRC

Dani’s experience in the energy sector is broad across policy, program management, governance and engagement, all towards promoting Australia’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Dani’s research specialises in energy system flexibility with a focus on distributed energy resources (DER), both on the demand and supply side. Dani has led numerous major DER projects at ISF and initiated ISF’s work on renewable energy and load management (REALM. Dani managed ISF’s award-winning DER demonstration project Networks Renewed, which tested the network support potential of batteries and solar PV owned by residential customers. Other DER projects Dani has led include Solar Optimisation Upgrades for C&I Customers funded by the Victorian Government, the DM Incentives Review funded by ARENA, and an Evaluation of Non-Network Alternatives for Essential Energy.

Chris Dunstan

Adjunct Assoc. Prof., Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Chris Dunstan is an economist and policy specialist with 30 years’ experience in clean energy, climate, strategic management and sustainability. Chris has facilitated major policy and program initiatives, including the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (the world’s first carbon emissions trading scheme), the NSW Energy Savings Scheme, the NSW Climate Change Fund and the AER’s $1 billion Demand Management Incentive Scheme for electricity distribution networks. Chris has led the development of many key research initiatives, including the Australian Decentralised Energy Roadmap, the national Network Opportunity Maps, the Electric Driveway and the $350 million RACE for 2030 CRC.

Day Two: Session

People, society, and institutions: just transition

Rusty Langdon

Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Electricity sector workforce projections for Australia’s 2022 Integrated System Plan

Rusty Langdon joined ISF as a Research Consultant in 2020. Rusty has an academic background in ecological economics, industrial ecology and community planning for sustainability. Rusty is professionally experienced in quantitative and qualitative analysis, workshop facilitation, stakeholder engagement and designing and managing research projects across a range of public and private sectors.

Rusty is passionate about a just transition to a zero-carbon future and integrating circular models into our economic system. They are particularly interested in analysis techniques, governance structures and economic models that consider both macro/micro scales, enviro/ social/economic spheres, actively consider community need and facilitate the inclusion of diverse community voices.

Sangeetha Chandrashekeran

Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Electrification, energy hardship and vulnerability: results from a mixed methods study

Sangeetha is a Senior Research Fellow in the ARC Lifecourse Centre, and at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne. Sangeetha has a PhD in Geography from the University of Melbourne and her research focuses on how to achieve transformative outcomes for both equity and environment through the energy transition. She has written on smart meter roll outs, the consumer data right, energy affordability in Europe, measuring energy poverty and energy justice for First Nations. A common theme in her work is the changing role of the state and new spatial patterns of energy governance.

CHAIR

Nam Tran

Researcher, The University of Adelaide

Economic optimisation of ammonia supply chain system based on economic, social and governance (ESG) factors

Nam Tran got his BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Can Tho University in 2006. In 2009, he won the prestigious Panasonic Scholarship for his MSc study in Chemical System Engineering at The University of Tokyo, Japan. In 2014, he began his PhD. study in Chemical Engineering at The University of Adelaide (UoA) with an Australian Awards Scholarship. After finishing his Ph.D. study, Nam joined The University of Adelaide as a researcher, and then, as a senior researcher. His research interests include sustainable technologies, process design and optimisation, reaction engineering, micro-flow reactor, green and renewable energy, and life cycle assessment.

David Roche

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

David Roche is a Research Director (Strategic Energy Collaborations) at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. His expertise includes distributed energy systems, flexible demand, and net zero strategy. He has over 25 years’ experience in business development and technology commercialisation, which includes project-managing some of Australia’s first grid-connected photovoltaic systems, developing Australian renewable energy standards and policy, and being a director of five ASX-listed technology start-ups. He leads business development for ISF’s Energy Futures team, and provides business development expertise to the newly-established NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub.

Maartje Feenstra

Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Maartje Feenstra has a background in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. She has worked at the national research institute of The Netherlands, where she was the technical lead for the synthetic electrical based fuel (e-fuels) team. With a strong chemical engineering background, her expertise areas include synthetic e-fuels, green hydrogen, post-combustion CO2 capture and innovative sustainable process developments for hard-to-abate sectors such as the aviation, maritime, (chemical) industry, steel and cement sectors.

Day two: Session

Energy transition: renewables, networks and electric vehicles

Angela Simonovska

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Electrical model-free optimal power flow for PV-Rich HV-LV distribution networks

Angela finished her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia, and her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering – Smart Grids at Politecnico di Milano, in Milan, Italy. Currently she is pursuing her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and IT at The University of Melbourne, Australia under the supervision of Professor Luis Nando Ochoa. Her main area of research is related to low-voltage distribution networks, distributed energy resources, machine learning and optimal power flow.

Rosalind Archer

Head of School, Engineering & Built Environment, Griffith University

Electric vehicles: experience from across the Tasman

Rosalind Archer has interdisciplinary interests in energy. She recently moved to Australia after a 19-year career at the University of Auckland where she was Deputy Dean of Engineering, and Director of the Geothermal Institute. Rosalind was also the director of Auckland’s Master of Energy program. She is now Head of the School of Engineering & Built Environment at Griffith University.

Yushan Hou

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

EV hosting capacity and voltage unbalance: an Australian case study

Yushan is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Previously, she received an MSc degree from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Before that, she worked as an electrical engineer for two-and-a-half years. Now she is focusing on studying the effect of voltage unbalance on distributed energy resources (DER) hosting capacity and power rebalancing algorithm to mitigate unbalance.

CHAIR

Soobok Yoon

PhD candidate, Monash University

Grid-to-vehicle (G2V) algorithm with voltage control for Monash microgrid

Soobok Yoon obtained a PhD from Monash University in 2020, with a research paper titled “Smart Charging Algorithm”. Soobok completed a Master of Sustainable Energy, at the University of Queensland in 2018. Prior to this, Soobok worked as a Researcher for CERN in Switzerland and completed a Master’s studies in Applied Physics at Korea University.

Stuart Johnston

Program Lead, Networks, RACE for 2030

Dr Stuart Johnston has over 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in both public and private organisations. He is currently the Program Lead for Networks at RACE for 2030 CRC, which is focused on optimising Australia’s electricity grid through network integration and customer distributed energy resources. Prior to RACE for 2030, Stuart served in a number of senior roles associated in facilitating Australia’s energy transition including TransGrid, Energy Networks Australia and AEMO. This included leading the team that delivered the Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap developed to provide detailed milestones and actions to guide an efficient and timely transformation of the electricity sector, and the Open Energy Networks program which identified the key functions required to maximise the uptake of DER within the distribution system.

Scan to read presentation abstracts for this session.

Day two: Session

Decarbonisation pathways: transition pathways

Sven Teske

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Australian sector-specific scope 1, 2, and 3 analyses for setting net zero targets

Dr Sven Teske is an Associate Professor and Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, with a research focus on energy decarbonisation pathways for specific industry sectors and regions towards net-zero by 2050. His research explores the 100% renewable energy concepts required to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement for countries, regions, cities, microgrids for islands and the development of National Determined Contribution (NDC) reports. Sven has over 28 years’ experience in renewable energy market and policy analysis, as well as solar and on-and offshore wind power grid integration concepts in public grids.

Ken Baldwin Professor, Australian National University

The Australian renewable energy export transition

Professor Baldwin is the founding Director of the ANU Energy Change Institute (now incorporated into the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions), and the inaugural Director of the ANU Grand Challenge, Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific. The main research focus of his current work is to help drive the energy transition, particularly for Australia’s future export industries based on renewable energy. Professor Baldwin is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE), the American Physical Society (FAPS), the Optical Society of America (FOSA), The Institute of Physics UK (FInstP), and the Australian Institute of Physics (FAIP)

Rebecca Yang Associate Professor, RMIT

Community renewable energy transition and trading: a case study

Rebecca is a member of the National Mirror Committee for International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) TC 82 Solar photovoltaic energy systems by Standards Australia, represents Australia to the development of an international standard IEC 63092 BIPV, reviews and comments on new proposed standards under IEC TC 82. She has established Solar Energy Application Lab at RMIT and lead many academics, research students and research assistants from multiple in projects to support energy transformation through greater solar adoption in the building sector and the urban environment.

Moonyong Kim

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of NSW

Material sustainability and the learning curve for decarbonising electricity using photovoltaic technology

Moonyong Kim has completed both his PhD (2020) and Honour’s degree (2015) in photovoltaic (PV) engineering. His PhD focused on understanding the mechanism of lightinduced degradation in crystalline silicon solar cells. His recent research focused on the material sustainability of PV technology, which is an important aspect to reach the net zero goal by 2030. The material sustainability of PV technology is critical to ensure PV market continues to grow at rapid rate while maintaining the low cost.

CHAIR

Ariel Liebman Director, Monash Energy Institute

Ariel is Director and co-founder of the Monash Energy Institute and a Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems in the Monash faculty of IT. Ariel’s research focus is on the development and application of new decision support tools for Integrated System Planning for large 100% renewable grids. In 2019 he co-founded the RACE for 2030 CRC as the first Networks Program leader/Ariel is an energy specialist with more than 25 years of experience with 12 years of industry roles in the National Electricity Market. In 2016 Ariel was the architect of the Microgrid/Net Zero Initiative and lead researcher in the Monash Smart Energy City project.

Day Two: Plenary panel

Decarbonisation, decolonisation and the energy transition: research and partnerships

The goal of net zero implies major transformations of our lands and waters, with utility-scale renewable energy generation and transmission and distribution across vast spaces. A large portion of Australia’s land mass is owned or managed by Aboriginal traditional owners following native title and Aboriginal land rights laws. All First Nations communities (including those dispossessed of land by settler law) must be at the forefront of a just and equitable transition to renewables. There is currently much discussion of social licence to operate for net zero industries and the structures of governance are emerging, including the expectation that free, prior and informed consent guide all clean energy sector engagements with Traditional Owners. In this session we ask how decarbonisation and decolonisation can go hand-in-hand through the energy transition.

OPENING KEYNOTE: Heidi Norman

Associate Dean (Indigenous) and Convenor Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Heidi Norman is a leading researcher in the field of Australian Aboriginal political history. Her research work includes a political history of Aboriginal land rights in NSW and study of the benefits of land restitution to Aboriginal Land Councils. In this later work, she has been focused on the Aboriginal land estate and climate change. She is a descendant of the Gomeroi people from north-western NSW.

HOST: Sangeetha Chandrashekeran

Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Electrification, energy hardship and vulnerability: results from a mixed methods study

Sangeetha is a Senior Research Fellow in the ARC Lifecourse Centre, and at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne. Sangeetha has a PhD in Geography from the University of Melbourne and her research focuses on how to achieve transformative outcomes for both equity and environment through the energy transition. She has written on smart meter roll outs, the consumer data right, energy affordability in Europe, measuring energy poverty and energy justice for First Nations. A common theme in her work is the changing role of the state and new spatial patterns of energy governance.

Ruby Heard

First Nations Clean Energy Network, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne

Ruby is a descendant of the Jaru people of the Eastern Kimberley region of WA. An electrical engineer, she runs Alinga Energy Consulting, providing renewable energy and microgrid consulting services including research, feasibility studies, design and implementation, with a focus on remote and off-grid applications. Ruby is a Steering Group for the First Nations Clean Energy Network.

Brendan Kennedy

Tati Tati elder and Enterprise Principal Fellow in Cultural Economies and Sustainability, The University of Melbourne and Life Course Centre

Brendan Kennedy is a Tati Tati and Wadi Wadi Traditional Owner who has deep knowledge and extensive work experience in the areas of Indigenous culture, language, art, science and advocacy. Brendan holds leadership positions in the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Language and the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) where he has been instrumental in elevating the profile of First Nations Water Rights in the Murray Darling Basin. Brendan also works with a range of government and regulatory agencies to enable opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous communities. This includes the Murray Darling Basin Authority, Departments of Environment and Planning in NSW and VIC and the Commonwealth and Victorian Water Holders.

Jamie Lowe CEO, National Native Title Council

Jamie Lowe, a proud Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man, first joined the National Native Title Council (NNTC) as Chair in 2017. Two year later, he was appointed CEO, charged with supporting First Nation’s people’s right to true self-determination in advocating for their right to speak for and manage their own Country; to govern their own communities; to participate fully in decision making and to self-determine their own social and economic development. In 2021 he was appointed as the Indigenous Specialist Representative for the Australian Heritage Council – the principal adviser to the Australian Government on heritage matters. In July 2018 he joined the Victorian Heritage Council as an Indigenous Specialist Representative and is a joint council member of the Coalition of the Peaks. Jamie was instrumental in the Closing The Gap Agreement with the Federal Government, that came into effect July 2020.

Day two: Workshop

Net Zero Australia: pathways to net zero emissions by 2050

The energy transition will not be straightforward. The current situation in the Australia energy markets is the perfect example of where global instability, supply chain pressures and the impacts of climate change collide with our ambitions for net zero emissions by 2050. The Net Zero Australia Project identifies pathways and requirements by which Australia could achieve net zero emissions while having the most competitive domestic energy system and clean exports by mid-century. Our work is scenario-based and intended to be transparent, technology-neutral, evidence-driven and non-political.

HOST: Simon Smart Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

Simon Smart is Deputy Director of the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation and an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland. His research is centred around the sustainable production and use of energy and chemicals – including the development of enabling technologies and mapping scenarios for the energy transition through the Net Zero Australia project. Simon has authored more than 100 journal publications at a h-index of 38.

Maria Lopez PhD candidate, University of Melbourne

Maria’s current research focuses on climate change mitigation in the agriculture sector, particularly in the meat industry. She is currently researching livestock systems and pathways to reduce emissions by developing a framework to support claims of carbon neutrality at a farm scale and its effect on the meat industry in future trajectories. She is experienced in modelling whole-farm carbon accounting in livestock systems across agroecological regions. In addition, she upgrades the farm greenhouse accounting framework (GAF) for different food production systems.

Jamie Lowe

CEO, National Native Title Council

Jamie Lowe, a proud Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man, first joined the National Native Title Council (NNTC) as Chair in 2017. Two year later, he was appointed CEO, charged with supporting First Nation’s people’s right to true self-determination in advocating for their right to speak for and manage their own Country; to govern their own communities; to participate fully in decision making and to self-determine their own social and economic development.

In 2021 he was appointed as the Indigenous Specialist Representative for the Australian Heritage Council – the principal adviser to the Australian Government on heritage matters.

In July 2018 he joined the Victorian Heritage Council as an Indigenous Specialist Representative and is a joint council member of the Coalition of the Peaks. Jamie was instrumental in the Closing The Gap Agreement with the Federal Government, that came into effect July 2020.

April Reside

Lecturer in Wildlife Science at the School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, University of Queensland.

April’s research encompasses ecology, conservation, and policy, with a focus on threatened species. She has worked with the National Threatened Species Recovery Hub, investigating refuges and refugia for threatened species from climate change; and the cost of recovering all of Australia’s threatened terrestrial and freshwater species. April also researches woodland bird communities.

April is Chair of the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team, and serves on two national committees for Birdlife Australia, and the Invasive Species Council’s Conservation and Science Committee.

Day two: Session

Energy innovation and technology: integration of renewable energy and customers

Jahangir Hossain

Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney

Derwent Bridge microgrid: best practice and lesson learnt from remote community microgrid

Dr Jahangir Hossain earned a PhD from the University of New South Wales in 2010. He is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Before this, he served as an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering, Macquarie University for three-and-a-half years, Senior Lecture and a Lecturer in the Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Australia for five years and as a Research Fellow in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Elizabeth Ratnam

Senior Lecturer, ANU FERL Fellow, Australian National University

Optimisation-based operation of battery storage for PV grid integration: towards creating a resilient carbon-neutral electricity grid

Dr Elizabeth Ratnam leads a research group in Power Systems and Optimisation, focusing on the control of renewable and distributed energy within power grids. Elizabeth earned the BEng (Hons I) degree in Electrical Engineering in 2006 and PhD degree in 2016 from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She subsequently held postdoctoral positions at the University of California (UC) San Diego, and at UC Berkeley. During 2001 and 2012 she held various positions at Ausgrid, an Australian utility. Elizabeth is currently a Senior Lecturer at the ANU School of Engineering. She a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of Engineers Australia.

CHAIR

Graham Palmer Research Fellow, Monash University

Validation of high-resolution BARRA reanalysis data using historical wind power generation

Graham Palmer is a researcher with an industry background as an engineer and researcher in manufacturing, HVAC and electronics. He has published in the area of biophysical economics, renewable energy, life-cycle analysis, and energy-economic modelling. Graham obtained his PhD in energy-return-on-investment (EROI) of electricity supply. His current research is life cycle assessment of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Grace Young Chief Innovation Officer, Wattwatchers

Data

for energy researchers: a service provider’s perspective

Grace Young leads the innovation roadmap, engineering team and key projects for Sydneybased Wattwatchers Digital Energy. With over two decades in online product design and development, her experience crosses strategic design, shared value and digital product development, and she is also an experienced facilitator. Joining Wattwatchers in 2018, Grace has delivered multiple applications and revamped Wattwatchers’ scalable, high-availability infrastructure. Previous roles include co-founding local energy trading startup Nexergy (2016-18); and leading innovation with strategic design consultancy Zumio (2008-17). Grace has a Master of Sustainable Practice from RMIT University and also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Contemporary Music) from Southern Cross University.

Gregor Verbic

Co-Chair ERICA

Associate Professor, The University of Sydney

Gregor Verbic is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, The University of Sydney and Director of the Centre for Future Energy Networks. His expertise is in power system operation, stability and control, and electricity markets. His current research focuses on grid and market integration of distributed energy resources and large-scale renewables, future grid modelling and scenario analysis, and demand response. He was a recipient of the IEEE Power and Energy Society Prize Paper Award in 2006. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

Day two: Session

Energy transition: renewables, networks and electric vehicles

Anna Mortimore Lecturer, Griffith University

RACE for 2030 report: business fleets and EVs report, finds Australian Government’s one tax change: in exempting EVs from FBT is not enough to accelerate uptake of BEVs for business fleets and home charging

Is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, and a Chartered Tax Adviser. Published widely in professional tax journals, and International Environmental Tax publications. The lead researcher in the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 project “Business Fleets and BEVs: Taxation changes to support home charging from the grid and affordability”.

Anna presented at local and international conferences and made submissions on future tax reform, greenhouse emission standards, and National Electric Vehicle strategy and appeared before in Senate Economics Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Electric Car Discount) Bill 2022 (Provisions) Public Hearing.

Scott Dwyer

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Electric vehicles: strategic integration with the grid

Scott has 15+ years’ industry experience, working for both the private and public sectors, advising on issues relating to the commercialisation of new products and services. He holds a PhD in Energy and Buildings from the University of Ulster (Belfast), a Masters of Science in Energy Systems from the University of Strathclyde, and a Bachelors of Science (Honours) from Glasgow Caledonian University. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy.

CHAIR

Jing Zhu

PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne

Understanding the effects of EV Management and TOU tariffs in future distribution networks

Jing Zhu is a second-year PhD candidate in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne. She received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Manchester, UK and North China Electric Power University, China in 2018. She worked as a control room operator in State Grid Corporation of China for three years before her PhD. Her research interests include distribution networks and electric vehicles.

Nanduni Nimalsiri Research Fellow, Australian National University

A network-aware, distributed coordination approach for electric vehicle charging and discharging in unbalanced distribution grids

Nanduni I. Nimalsiri received the B.Sc.Eng. degree (Hons.) in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2017, and a PhD in Engineering and Computer Science from the Australian National University, Australia, in 2021. From 2018 to 2021, she was also a Research Student with the CSIRO’s Data61, Australia. She is currently a Research Fellow with the School of Engineering, Australian National University, Australia. Her research interests include applications of optimisation and control theory to power systems.

Stuart White

Co-Chair, ERICA Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over 30 years’ experience in sustainability research, Stuart’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes the design and assessment of programs for improving decision-making and resource use. Stuart has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.

Day two: Session

Decarbonisation pathways: renewable energy systems

Reza Fazeli Research Fellow, Australian National University

Dynamics of the transition to renewable hydrogen

Reza is a Research Fellow at Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge. He joined the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science in January 2020. His main research interests are energy systems modelling, analysis of energy policies towards decarbonisation and multi-criteria decision analysis for energy planning. He received his PhD in Sustainable Energy systems from University of Porto, MIT-Portugal program. He has an MSc in Energy Systems Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

Changlong Wang Research Fellow, Monash University

The impact of electricity retail tariff on hydrogen certification and grid emissions

Dr Changlong Wang is a research fellow at Monash University. He is one of the key developers of the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool, a government-led project by Geoscience Australia in collaboration with Monash University to support Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy. Changlong is also a Climate Future Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He is one of the two participants, who represent Australia in a new IEA, Hydrogen Implement Agreement, Task 41: “Analysis and Modelling of Hydrogen Technologies”.

CHAIR

Huanyu Jin

Research Fellow, University of Adelaide

Green hydrogen from electrocatalytic seawater splitting: a sustainable route towards blue economy

Dr Huanyu Jin received PhD from The University of Adelaide (UoA) in 2020. He is currently a research fellow at UoA, and his research focuses on developing clean energy technologies for environmental sustainability. Huanyu has received multiple awards, including UoA Future Making Fellowship, Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal (1 per year), UoA Doctoral Research Medal, etc. As the Chief investigator and Associate Investigator, Huanyu has obtained internal and external funding of over 1 million AUD. His h-index is 27, and he has a total citation of over 6800. He was listed on Stanford University World’s Top 2% Scientists Most-Cited List.

Rui Tang

Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Sydney

Sustainable technology for greenhouse gas capture, storage, and utilisation

Rui Tang is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Sydney. His research mainly focuses on heterogeneous catalysis reactions for various solar-driven chemicals/fuel production applications.

Sven Teske

Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Dr Sven Teske is an Associate Professor and Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, with a research focus on energy decarbonisation pathways for specific industry sectors and regions towards net-zero by 2050. His research explores the 100% renewable energy concepts required to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement for countries, regions, cities, microgrids for islands and the development of National Determined Contribution (NDC) reports. Sven has over 28 years’ experience in renewable energy market and policy analysis, as well as solar and on-and offshore wind power grid integration concepts in public grids.

Housekeeping

Aerial UTS Function Centre

location:

The Conference is being held at the Aerial UTS Function Centre located at Level 7, UTS Building 10, 235 Jones Street, Ultimo NSW

www.aerialutsfunctioncentre.com.au

Enter via the 235 Jones Street Ultimo Foyer, take the lift to level 7 and proceed to the Function Centre. Aerial is a:

● 5-minute walk from Central Railway Station

● 15 minutes to Sydney’s CBD

● The airport is a 30-minute drive (allow for traffic)

● Public buses run regularly to /from the City from Broadway.

Bathrooms: The bathrooms are located at the very end of the UTS Aerial Function Centre, past the Wattle Room and to the right.

Car parking: Car parking is available on-site at the Interpark UTS Car Park. The car park entrance is accessed from Thomas Street (travelling West), with lift access to level 7. Metered street parking is available in Thomas Street but is limited.

Complimentary WiFi:

Choose the network: UTS-FunctionCentre

Password: conference2020

COVID-19

For the health and safety of our attendees and speakers, we request that if you are exhibiting any signs of COVID-19 (cough, sore throat, loss of smell, loss of taste, flu or other cold like symptoms), or other transmittable illness on the day of the Conference, you do not come to the Conference. The Conference is being live streamed, so if you let us know (sdixon@ catalystevents.com.au) we can provide you with the streaming link so that you can login and watch virtually.

Disability Access

The venue is fully wheelchair accessible via ramps and lifts, a bathroom is available on site, and a hearing induction loop can be provided on request.

Evacuation Procedures

1. Once you hear the fire evacuation alarm, please stop what you are doing.

2. As soon as you have been advised by Aerial staff please evacuate.

3. Keep calm.

4. Exit the building as quickly as possible following Aerial’s evacuation route.

5. Assemble at the pre-determined evacuation area on Jones Street.

6. A head count will be conducted by our fire warden.

7. Return to building when officially authorised to do so.