Australian Clean Energy Summit
The Australian Clean Energy Summit 2024 is the peak gathering of leaders driving Australia’s energy transformation, bringing together policy-makers, investors, developers, energy users, and utility companies from across the country to discuss the latest clean energy solutions and technologies.
The Good Energy Minds team attended the Summit and the Women in Renewables lunch in the Eora Nation (Sydney), and noted the following key highlights:
- Aunty Joan Bell, a proud Wiradjuri and Gadigal woman, shared her respect and our need to care for the land, sea and rivers when she Welcomed the delegates to Country.
- Kane Thornton, Chief Executive, Clean Energy Council, opened the Summit by stating “The decisions we make now have the potential for our Nation to lead for generations to come”. He then chaired a Leaders Panel discussing “The forefront of the clean energy transition” with Angela Karl, Head of Energy Transition, HMC Capital; Damien Nicks, CEO, AGL Energy Limited; Stephanie Unwin, Chief Executive Officer, Horizon Power; Ning Chen, CEO, Goldwind, Rob Wheals, CEO, Squadron Energy, where Ning Chen suggested “…we need to move faster to become a renewable energy super power”.
- Tony Barry, Director Corporate Affairs and Strategy, RedBridge Group, in his session on “Winning hearts and minds: working with communities to support thriving regional economies”, shared “…Governments and corporates are speaking to communities in a language they don’t understand”.
- Karrina Nolan, Steering Committee Member, First Nations Clean Energy Network, shared her strategies for First Nation’s engagement and empowerment with a panel chaired by Sunny Rutherford, Head of Communication and Institutional Affairs, EGP Australia, with Rob Grant, Managing Director, Global Head of Projects, Pollination Group; and Mel Sutton, Director, KPMG, … consent, engagement and economic opportunity for First Nations communities in genuine, long-term partnerships.
- The Women in Renewables Luncheon provided an opportunity to imagine a world in 2050 where we have achieved net-zero emissions. The two esteemed speakers, Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Council and Gina Zheng, Business Development Manager at Eku Energy and the inaugural Clean Energy Council (CEC) Chloe Munro Scholar to ask: What does this future look like through the eyes of our two expert panellists? How do they envision the journey that led us there? Moreover, what current endeavours are paving the way towards this sustainable and eco-friendly tomorrow? It was an invigorating session of blue-sky dreaming from two inspirational women leaders in the renewables sector.
Dr Chivonne Algeo; Monique Talarico, Membership Lead, Clean Energy Council; and Troy Pickwick
Karrina Nolan, Steering Committee Member, First Nations Clean Energy Network
Kane Thornton; Ning Chen; Angela Karl; Rob Wheals; Stephanie Unwin; and Damien Nicks
Julia Souder, CEO, Long Duration Energy Storage Council at the Women in Renewables Luncheon
