Topic:

Topic: AEMO

Latest

[Episode #246] – Meeting Australia’s 2030 Target

Mar 26 2025

This episode is part of a miniseries about Australia’s energy transition.

In late 2024, Chris traveled to Australia and recorded interviews with a wide range of experts who are closely involved in its energy transition. The first of those interviews was featured in Episode #234, and the second in Episode #235.

In this episode, we'll see how the Australian government is working with the grid power sector to plan and execute its transition to renewables—despite a political opposition committed to fossil fuels and nuclear. We'll also explore what's being done to ensure adequate capacity and maintain system reliability during this transformation.

To tell this story, we weave together the perspectives of several guests:

Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy for the Australian Labor Party, explains Australia's decarbonization targets and the government's framework to achieve them.
Matt Kean, Chair of Australia's Climate Change Authority, shares his team’s findings about the best pathways to meet those targets.
Alex Wonhas of AMPYR shares insights from helping grid operator AEMO develop Integrated System Plans that describe how to evolve the system toward those targets while maintaining reliability.
Tristan Edis of Green Energy Markets discusses the technical considerations of orchestrating new grid power resources.

In the subsequent episodes in this miniseries, we’ll be exploring how Australia is using innovation to meet the challenges of the transition. We’ll also take a closer look at how they use DER integration to support the system while helping customers gain more control over their energy bills and even save money.

Guest #1:

Dr. Alex Wonhas is a veteran senior executive and thought leader who has shaped the national and state-based strategic agendas in Australia’s energy sector for more than three decades.

Through roles including Executive General Manager at AEMO, Managing Director at Aurecon, and Executive Director at CSIRO, he has worked extensively with governments and industry in the Energy and Resources sector on issues ranging from strategic investment decisions in a complex and rapidly changing market environment, development and procurement of new large-scale infrastructure, impact of new technologies, to operational and organisational improvement. He is currently the CEO of AMPYR Australia.

Alex has served on a range of energy and resources related advisory committees and boards, including the Energy Corporation of New South Wales, CSIRO Chile, Evergen, CO2CRC, ANLEC, and the Australian Solar Institute. He has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge.

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwonhas/

Guest #2:

Chris Bowen is Minister for Climate Change and Energy for the Australian Labor Party, representing Prospect, New South Wales in the House of Representatives. He has held a wide range of portfolios including serving as Treasurer, Minister for Human Services, Minister for Immigration, Minister for Financial Services, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Competition Policy, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Tertiary Education. Chris has been responsible for a range of significant policy reform programs in these portfolios.

He served as Interim Leader of the Labor Party and Acting Leader of the Opposition following the 2013 Federal election and served as Shadow Treasurer.

On Twitter: @bowenchris

On the Australian Government website: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=DZS

On the Web: https://www.chrisbowen.net/

Guest #3:

The Hon. Matt Kean is the Chair of Australia’s Climate Change Authority. He is also the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Wollemi Capital.

Matt was most recently the New South Wales (NSW) Government 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. He was the local New South Wales Government member for Hornsby from 2011 until 2024.

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’s energy infrastructure. The roadmap spurs private investment in renewable energy while reducing emissions and power bills for the people of NSW.

On Twitter: @Matt_KeanMP

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kean-mp/

On the Web: https://www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au/

Guest #4:

Tristan Edis has worked on commercial and policy initiatives for the energy transition for 24 years.

Currently he is the Director of Analysis and Advisory at Green Energy Markets. He undertakes research to support clients making investment, trading and policy decisions related to energy and carbon abatement markets.

Tristan has written extensively on how to improve the energy system and markets to deliver reliable and affordable energy while also addressing climate change.

Previously, he has worked in the Clean Energy Council for the Australian Government, Ernst & Young, and the Grattan Institute think tank. He was also the editor of a clean energy news website called Climate Spectator.

On Twitter: @TristanEdis

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-edis-7b107998/

On the Web: https://www.greenmarkets.com.au/

Tristan’s research papers in IEEFA

Tristan’s articles in AFR

Tristan’s articles in The Guardian

Tristan’s articles in Watt Clarity

Tristan’s articles in Renew Economy

Tristan’s articles in Inside Story

Tristan’s articles in The Australian

Geek rating: 6

(more…)

[Episode #204] – Regulatory Reform

Aug 9 2023

Mini Episode

Whose job is it to lead the energy transition?

In previous episodes, we’ve talked about how markets can guide the transition, especially after targeted reforms. We’ve considered the role of regulators, and the problems of regulatory capture and corruption. We’ve asked how local community leaders and elected officials can lead the energy transition from the bottom up, and conversely, how local activists can hinder and undermine the energy transition. We’ve also looked at the role of governments, particularly where no one else seems able to meet a particular challenge, or where that challenge isn’t really anyone’s responsibility.

In this episode, we try to knit together these disparate threads with veteran regulator Audrey Zibelman, who has held senior roles at both utilities and regulatory bodies for more than 30 years. Audrey shares some deep thoughts about why regulators and governments will have to play much more creative, courageous, and ambitious roles in the future to contend with the challenges of the energy transition.

Geek rating: 10

(more…)

[Episode #115] – Wildfire and Transition in Australia

Feb 19 2020

Mini Episode

Australia’s out-of-control wildfires in recent months have captured the world’s attention and raised serious questions about how climate change is affecting the continent, whether the country’s leadership is taking appropriate action to address climate risk, and what the future holds for its unique weather patterns and ecosystem.

But Australia is one of the most fossil-fuel dependent countries in the world, which makes it politically difficult to face the reality of its climate risk, and how its own activities are increasing that risk. So in this episode we invited a longtime journalist and researcher, based in Sydney, who works in research, strategy, and communications around climate change and finance, to help us understand the political, economic, and climate context of Australia at this moment, and to understand how the wildfires are influencing the trajectory of energy transition there. She reveals a country delicately balanced somewhere between hope and despair, with political leadership in thrall to the fossil fuel industry, and a populace eager to pursue energy transition and reduce its exposure to climate risk.

Geek rating: 1

(more…)

[Episode #71] – Australia at the Cutting Edge

Jun 13 2018

Mini Episode

Since we last covered Australia one year ago in Episode 39, a lot has changed…it has deployed the largest utility-scale battery system in the world, made numerous technical upgrades to prevent future outages, and placed some incredible leaders in key agencies where they are working hard to accelerate the country’s energy transition. It is also actively investing in new energy technologies that aren’t even commercial yet, to see how they can perform. In short, Australia is breaking new trail on multiple fronts in energy transition, and demonstrating some truly interesting findings to the rest of the world, for how a grid might function self-sufficiently, at scale, with significant shares of variable renewable power and large battery storage systems.

Our guide to the current state of affairs today is Ivor Frischknecht, a subscriber to this show and the CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). A widely acknowledged expert and innovator in the energy industry, with deep knowledge of the grid’s needs in Australia, and a far-reaching vision for what it can become, he’s one of the top experts on the energy transition Down Under, and can explain it all in a very accessible way.

Geek rating: 6

(more…)

[Episode #39] – Transition in Australia

Mar 22 2017

Mini Episode

Australia has the highest proportion of households with rooftop solar PV systems of any country in the world. It also has the second-dirtiest grid in the world, getting three-quarters of its power from coal. As such, Australia might as well be the global poster child of energy transition, with both a huge load of dirty power plants it needs to retire, and a huge set of distributed and variable solar and wind systems that it needs to integrate into its power grid, while keeping everything balanced, without being able to import or export electricity from other nations. It’s a fascinating case study in wholesale markets, renewable incentives, technical balancing issues, and yes, acrimonious political debate between Browns and Greens. To help us understand this complex picture, we speak with Dr. Jenny Riesz, a Principal at the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the operator of Australia’s largest gas and electricity markets and power systems. Dr. Riesz works on adapting AEMO’s processes and functions to ensure ongoing security and reliability as the power system transitions to renewables, and leads its work program on matters such as frequency control, analysis on declining inertia, and possible solutions such as Fast Frequency Response.

Geek rating: 9

(more…)