Australia 4.0 Summit Keynote Speaker - Emeritus Professor Roy Green AM MAICD

Roy is Special Innovation Advisor at the University of Technology Sydney and former Dean of the UTS Business School. He has undergraduate degrees from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Roy has pursued a career in universities, government and industry and published widely on innovation and industrial policy, including with the OECD and European Commission.

He chaired the Australian Government’s Innovative Regions Centre, CSIRO Manufacturing Sector Advisory Council, Queensland Competition Authority, NSW Manufacturing Council and the Port of Newcastle. Currently, Roy chairs the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub and is a board director of CSIRO and SmartSat CRC. He is leading a review of the Federal government’s Energy Industry Jobs Plan for the Net Zero Economy Authority.  

Debate Topics & Teams

Debate Topic #1 – What does success look like?

Summary: When the electricity grid has been transformed to embrace both renewables and legacy systems, how will we know the transition to the Consumers Grid to provide a lowest cost regulated electricity supply for the foreseeable future is successful?

Moderator:                             Terry Lampard, National President, Electric Energy Society of Australia
A4 Committee Lead:              Wayne Fitzsimmons

If we set 2035 as the horizon for completing the transition, then we will know we have succeeded in transforming the national electricity system when the following requirements are demonstrably in operation.

• The average retail price of electricity is below $0.10c/kwh for all Australians
• Grid resilience delivers confidence of supply at all levels in the face of natural disaster, peak demand, and demand growth.
• A digitally enabled, truly national, energy market
• Fit-for-purpose regulation that prioritises the consumer and enables efficient operation of and investment in networks.
• Universal access to electricity data that respects privacy
• Majority of the technology solutions employed for the electricity system will be sovereign Australian IP.

Debate Topic # 1 Moderator: Terry Lampard

Terry Lampard - B Eng M Eng Mgt FIEAust CPEng NER APEC Engineer IntPE(Aus) MIEEE

Terry has over 45 years of experience in the Electricity Supply Industry. He spent 37 years at Ausgrid in a variety of technical and managerial roles, finally as General Manager – Design and Engineering. He was the Lead Technical Advisor at NSW Treasury for the Electricity Network Lease transactions, which realised over $34B. He has been a participant and/or Chair of numerous industry standards committees in Standards Australia and the Energy Networks Association, was a Board Director of the Australian CRC for Renewable Energy, has lectured in High Voltage Engineering at Sydney University and is currently National President of the Electric Energy Society of Australia.

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Debate Topic #2 – Creating the 'Consumers’ Grid'

Summary: The Consumers Grid will ensure efficiency, economy, efficacy, equity, sustainability, resilience and deliver national competitive advantage (productivity).

Moderator:                           James Seymour, former CEO, C4NET  
A4 Committee Lead:           Tim Ryan  

The old, linear, unidirectional, top-down model of electricity generation, supply and regulation is permanently disrupted by the advent of renewable energy and storage systems deployed throughout the network (DER) by commercial operators and consumers (CER).

To successfully deliver the Consumers’ Grid we must:      

• Prioritise commercial/industrial consumers over residential consumers in policy, in regulation, and in delivery.      
• Change the economics of networks and infrastructure to reduce the burden of network charges by doing what?      
• Drive productivity gains from cheaper, universally reliable electricity and the ICT technology solutions we create to that end to underpin comparative advantage for Australian industry.

Debate Topic # 2 Moderator: James Seymour

James Seymour is the Director of Apten Advisory, a specialised advisory and data analytics firm dedicated to addressing the energy sector’s rapidly evolving challenges. He brings more than 20 years of experience across the energy sector.

As CEO of the Centre for New Energy Technologies (C4NET), James led the development and delivery of a $25M portfolio of industry-led, data-driven collaborative research projects supporting Australia’s energy transition. Under his leadership, C4NET drove access to, and utilisation of, large-scale smart meter data, enabling evidence-based policy development, consumer behaviour insights, and electricity system modelling.

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Debate Topic # 3 – Standards underpin our national success

Summary: Ensuring the most appropriate standards are in place for a successful transformation to the Consumers’ Grid.

Moderator:                           Scott Brownlaw, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Standards Australia
A4 Committee Lead:           Dr Ian Oppermann

Exploiting the advantage Australia has by leading renewable energy adoption to develop sovereign standards, and/or adapt international standards for products, services and network planning will:

• Require the adoption of the C4NET EPS planning tools in combination with the AEMO ISP to provide a truly holistic         approach that can provide clear signals on investment, regulation, and interoperability
• Accelerate the energy transition
• Underpin the stability and resilience of the future grid
• Stimulate innovation and commercialisation of sovereign solutions that will form the basis for a new, sustained export sector to support the rest of the world in the transition of all energy systems

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Debate Topic #4 - Skills – grow and sustain the workforce

Summary: Australia needs to triple the supply of qualified engineers and tradespeople to complete the transformation of the energy system.

Moderator:                           Jamie Burrage, General Manager, Sydney Division, Engineers Australia 
A4 Committee Lead:           Colin Farrelly

This will best be achieved by:

• Increased number of private sector training providers offering upskilling / cross-skilling short courses
• Quadrupling the number of domestic students graduating as relevant professionals and technicians from Australian universities and vocational training by 2028 and sustaining that level for at least one decade
• Providing incentives to existing workers and future workers to undertake retraining or primary training through student fee relief and tax relief that are effective for at least 20 years post-graduation.

Debate Topic # 4 Moderator: Jamie Burrage

Jamie Burrage is an experienced association professional with experience working with a number of membership associations, including as CEO of the National Safety Council of Australia Foundation, and NSW State Manager for the Australian Computer Society.

Now running the Sydney Division of Engineers Australia as General Manager, Jamie leads a team representing 25,000 members and to enable 40+ committees and groups to assist Engineers Australia with its purpose to advance society through great engineering.

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Debate Topic #5 – Digitalising the Grid

It is time for a giant digital step change to create the Consumers Grid.

Summary: Digitalisation is a necessary foundation for the successful transformation of the national electricity grid. The defining aspects of this digitalisation address control, monitoring, privacy, adaptability, and redundancy.

Moderator:                           Neil Horrocks
A4 Committee Lead:           Jordan Green

Success in this effort demands:

• Emphasising sovereign capabilities and sovereign solutions
• Cybersecurity and system resilience designed for a consumer centric grid
• Changed roles and resourcing for regulators to be more collaborative and less siloed
• Industry leading the design, implementation, and funding of digital infrastructure

Debate Topic # 5 Moderator: Prof. Neil Horrocks

Neil Horrocks has more than 30 years of energy industry experience across the electricity and gas sectors including roles in retail, distribution and asset management. Neil is passionate about innovation that drives our energy transformation and is highly experienced collaborating with industry and academia in this pursuit. Neil is particularly interested in the opportunities that our digital world is creating to optimise the transition and has worked in projects in big data energy analytics, artificial intelligence, gamified behaviour change and optimised load control projects.

Neil currently is the Networks Program Leader and Deputy Chief Research Officer for RACE for 2030 where he works with networks and leading universities across Australia to explore new opportunities for customer participation in tomorrow’s electricity sector. He also Chairs the Customer and Community Reference Group at Urban Utilities.

Prior to joining Race for 2030, Neil has held roles as Director of the UQ Research Centre for Energy Data Innovation, CEO of Brisbane Sustainability Agency and Major Project Manager (Demand Management) at Energex).

Australia 4.0 Summit Summation - Matt Kean, Former NSW Minister for Energy

Matt was appointed as Chair of the Australian Climate Change Authority on August 5^th 2024 for a term of 5 years. He was previously the Member for Hornsby in the NSW Parliament from 2011 until August 2^nd 2024. Matt was most recently the NSW Shadow Minister for Health. He was Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal party from August 2022 until March 2023. Throughout his 13-year political career, Matt also held ministries of Innovation and Better Regulation, Treasury, Energy and Environment.

As Treasurer and Energy Minister of NSW, Matt championed climate action that is in the best interests of households and businesses. In 2020, he delivered the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap: A 20-year plan for NSW energy infrastructure. The roadmap spurs private investment in renewable energy while reducing emissions and power bills for the people of NSW.

Matt commenced in the role of Director, Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Wollemi Capital on August 15^th 2024.

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