Australia’s energy transition

Alex is one of Australia’s leading energy experts and passionate about enabling a smooth energy transition for Australia. He is currently on the Board of the Energy Corporation of NSW that is orchestrating NSW’s rapid energy transition through the delivery of the NSW Renewable Energy Zones. He is also advising a number of businesses on the energy transition. As EGM System Design at the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Alex oversaw the development of the Integrated System Plan (ISP). Prior to his role at AEMO, Alex held a number of senior executive roles at the CSIRO, where he led the energy and resources research, and at Aurecon, an international engineering firm.

Innovator, entrepreneur and academic, Renate is passionate about using her skills to increase the uptake of solar and accelerate the energy transition.

In 2022, she was added to the ‘Australian Solar Hall of Fame’ by the Smart Energy Council, for extraordinary contribution to solar research, industry development advocacy and communications, and once described as one of Eight Great Women in the Business of Science and Solar internationally by Renewable Energy World. Renate has led manufacturing and industrial technology development of energy technologies in Australia, Germany and China.

Renate is a Professor at the University of NSW and is concurrently; Co-Founder of Solar Analytics, Australia’s largest independent energy monitoring provider; the Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, the national centre for photovoltaics research led by UNSW, in partnership with ANU, UQ, CSIRO University of Melbourne and Monash;  and represents Australia on the Executive of the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS).

Martin co-founded and served as Executive Director for leading renewable energy developer Epuron from 2003 until its acquisition by Ark Energy in 2022. He has more than 25 years experience in the energy industry in Australia and the UK. He has been a director of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at the University of Sydney since 2006; served as Vice President of Market Development for Powerline GES Pty Ltd and consulted to various energy companies in Australia and the UK including Energy Australia, IPART, NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority and Combined Heat and Power Association in London.

Dani is a passionate advocate for sustainable energy solutions including ultra-low cost solar energy, catalysing low carbon fuels, preparing networks towards 100% renewables, innovating storage for firm renewable energy, improving energy markets, and helping people use clean energy.

Dani is the Chief Executive Officer of the UNSW Energy Institute, which is arguably the largest and most diverse grouping of energy experts in Australia. In her role Dani takes a systems-level, integrated approach to the energy transition and how energy intersects with other sectors such as water, industry, cities, climate and transport.

Prior to joining UNSW, Dani was a Program Leader at the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 (RACE for 2030) Cooperative Research Centre, a Research Director at the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures and has worked across a wide range of clean energy government programs including the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Second Generation Biofuels R&D Program, the Australian Solar Institute and the CCS Flagships Program.