Local Energy and Microgrids

1. www.informa.com.au/localenergy16
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CONFERENCE DAY ONE
Thursday 28th
April 2016
08:00 Registration and morning coffee
08:45 OPENING | Welcome from Informa and opening remarks from the Chair
Giles Parkinson, Founder and Editor, RenewEconomy
08:50 Global trends in deployment and regulation
Simon Currie, Global Head of Energy, Norton Rose Fulbright
09:20 Grid innovation: pathways to a low carbon future
 What the grid of the future might look like
 The active role TransGrid is taking to shape the grid of the future
 A snapshot of some of the activities TransGrid is undertaking to prepare for the new energy
ecosystem
Greg Garvin, Executive General Manager / People, Strategy and Stakeholders, TransGrid
LOCAL ENERGY PROJECTS
09:50 Big Wind for the little people: fitting community investment into large scale wind projects
 How the community got involved in Flyers Creek Wind Farm
 Flyers Creek Wind Farm project progress
 How we see our model working for others
Rachael Young, Chair, Central NSW Renewable Energy Cooperative
10:05 The Tyalgum Energy Project
 A project that has ambitious plans to take the village of Tyalgum in Northern NSW off the
electricity grid. Kacey has been involved since the beginning of the project and along with Andrew
Price, the Project Manager drive the project and the vision for the village.
 After a massive 2015, where a very positive feasibility study was commissioned by 'Energy for
The People’, this new year has started well with the installation of electric bikes in February and
the initial phases of the implementation of the project.
Kacey Clifford, Project Coordinator, Tyalgum Energy Project
Andrew Price, Project Manager, Tyalgum Energy Project
10:20 Australia's first community-owned renewable energy retailer
Alison Crook AO, Chair, Enova Community Energy Ltd
10:40 Networking and refreshment break
11:10 Stockland Shellharbour Solar Power Station
 Overview of NSW largest rooftop solar PV system
 Lessons learned from tender through to construction and operation
 Performance to date
Greg Johnson, National Sustainability Manager, Commercial Property, Stockland

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11:30 Biomass Cooperative and Hybrid Micro-Grid – Supplier and Customer benefits
 New business model for local energy solutions using straw based biomass energy
 Supplier Cooperative for biomass fuel
 Hybrid Micro-Grid with SAPN
 Profit sharing with suppliers, customers and project owners
Terry Kallis, Chairman, Yorke Biomass Energy
11:50 Co-operative Community Solar
 Pingala are pioneering the use of the co-operative form for their community energy projects
 Why a co-operative and what are the pros and cons of this approach?
April Crawford-Smith, Convenor, Pingala and Project Manager, The Valley Centre
Tom Nockolds, Director, Community Power Agency
12:10 Ministerial Address NSW
Mark Speakman, NSW Environment Minister
12:30 Lunch and networking break
Afternoon Chair: Simon Franklin, Managing Director, IT Power
MICROGRIDS AND UTILITY INTEGRATION
13:30 The utility role in micro-grids and community energy projects
 Current barriers and emerging opportunities
 Outcomes and learning from customer and technology trials
 Experience from connection of larger embedded generation and land developments.
Donald McPhail, Senior Network Strategy and Policy Engineer, Ergon Energy
13:55 The Huntlee Project
 Huntlee Project Overview
 Brief History of the HETA process
 The Developer Drivers
 Future Implications for Land development
 The commercial opportunities and challenges
 The regulatory hurdles
 The technical opportunities and challenges
 Building hybrid community/commercial structures
Stephen Thompson, Project Director, LWP Property Group
Dan Hilson, Executive Manager, Energy and Urban Renewal, Flow Systems
14:25 Delivering a net zero emissions precinct at the Canberra Institute of Technology
 Feasibility of creating a 1.4MW net zero emissions precinct on an existing site
 Utility integration and control (1MW demand management)
 Teaching and skills training (a live laboratory)
 Test labs and supplier partners
Toby Roxburgh, Director, Beast Solutions
14:50 Developing utility grade microgrid projects
 How enabling technologies are offering dispersed energy versatility.
 Case studies, including Diesel Replacement, Community Battery, Bushfire Response and Going
off the Grid
John Davidson, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Made Clean
15:15 Networking and refreshment break

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15:40 Developing a microgrid solution to support the Kalbarri Community in WA
Seán Mc Goldrick, Executive Manager Asset Management, Western Power
16:05 ARENA Here Comes the Sun Micro-grid Study
 Assessing options for combining rooftop solar and battery storage on existing residential buildings
and identifying opportunities to optimise capital investment through shared use, reduce consumer
costs and harness network benefits.
 The study will outline the technical, financial, legal and governance issues associated with each
option.
Bruce Thompson, Director, Major Projects, Moreland Energy Foundation
16:30 Virtual Net Metering project – UTS ISF, Ergon, ARENA
Jay Rutovitz, Project Director, UTS Institute of Sustainable Futures
17:00 PANEL DISCUSSION | Shifting to a decentralised energy system: addressing technical,
commercial, and regulatory challenges
 Utility integration
 Network services
 Electricity prices
 Smart grids
Panel Chair: Simon Franklin, Managing Director, IT Power
Jay Rutovitz, Project Director, UTS Institute of Sustainable Futures
Donald McPhail, Senior Network Strategy and Policy Engineer, Ergon Energy
Greg Garvin, Executive General Manager / People, Strategy and Stakeholders, TransGrid
Elena Bašić, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
17:30 CLOSING | Closing remarks from the Chair
17:40 Networking drinks

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CONFERENCE DAY TWO
Friday 29th
April 2016
08:50 OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair
Giles Parkinson, Founder and Editor, RenewEconomy
09:00 Ministerial Address ACT
Simon Corbell MLA, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for the Environment and Climate
Change, ACT
09:20 Ministerial Address SA
The Hon. Ian Hunter MLC, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, SA
BUSINESS AND PARTNERSHIP MODELS FOR COMMUNITY ENERGY PROJECTS
9:40 National Community Energy Strategy
 Community energy models
 Finance and funding
 Capacity building
 Profile raising and stakeholder support
 Policy and regulatory reform
Nicky Ison, Founding Director, Community Power Agency
10:00 Lessons from Sydney Renewable Power Company
 What has been achieved
 How this has been done
 Lessons for other projects
 Next iterations of community solar projects
Andy Cavanagh-Downs, Director, Sydney Renewable Power Company, and Executive Director,
Embark
10:25 Harnessing People Power
From a Property Developer’s perspective, how can the wider Community be engaged to participate in
large-scale energy generation that delivers triple-bottom-line benefits for a Building Owner? Darling
Harbour Live, the new convention centre precinct in Sydney, is in the process of finding out.
This session will explore some insights into;
 Connecting underutilised rooftops with willing investors
 Finding the right Community Enabler
 Establishing a workable contractual arrangement
 Delivering Certainty and Minimising Risk
Matt Williams, Sustainability Manager NSW & ACT Building, Lendlease
10:50 Networking and refreshment break
Chair: Amy Kean, NSW Renewable Energy Advocate

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11:20 Lighthouse Community Energy Project
 Developing an effective and scalable community energy financing program by partnering with a
local financial institution which issues Community Clean Energy Bonds (CCEB) to retail investors.
CCEB’s are a form of retail bonds with a fixed maturity date and earning a fixed rate of interest,
certified under the global Climate Bond Standard.
 This novel and highly innovative method makes it easier for members of the community to invest
in a portfolio of community energy projects that they are passionate about.
Alec Roberts, Chair, Clean Energy Association of Newcastle and Surrounds (CLEANaS)
11:40 SunCrowd and Repower Shoalhaven
Chris Cooper, President, Repower Shoalhaven
12:00 Can the shared economy offer a path to local & community solar?
 Distributed energy is increasingly creating consumer value versus grid power
 For much of the population though (renters, homes that are unsuitable and apartments)
accessing solar is infeasible
 Local energy collectives can overcome investment hurdles but fairly apportioning costs and
benefits requires more than financial mechanisms
Chris Mrakas, CEO & Co-founder, Matter
12:20 PANEL DISCUSSION | Community energy
Discussing current opportunities and barriers for local energy project implementations
 Partnership and business models for community energy
 Community and stakeholder engagement
 Evaluating regulatory issues
 Investment regulation including equity crowd funding reform
 Role of enabling technologies for the long term sustainability of renewable energy projects
 Finance and funding options
 Contract agreements
 Long term impact of community energy projects on the energy market
Panel Chair: Amy Kean, NSW Renewable Energy Advocate
Andy Cavanagh-Downs, Director, Sydney Renewable Power Company
Bruce Thompson, Director, Major Projects, Moreland Energy Foundation
Toby Roxburgh, Director, Beast Solutions
Dr Christina Kirsch, Director, ClearSky Solar Investments
Cr Mathew Dickerson, Mayor of Dubbo
13:00 Lunch
14:00 WORKSHOP | facilitated by Dan Sturrock and Phil Cohn, ARENA
ARENA supported the National Strategy for Community Energy (C4CE) and is currently supporting a
Community Energy Financing Tool-kit as a key action that emerged from the National
Strategy. ARENA continues to see significant potential for community energy in Australia but also
recognises that such projects are diverse and face many challenges that can be common to other
renewable energy projects.
ARENA’s current Investment Plan highlights capacity building, reducing costs and developing
innovative business models as possible areas where ARENA investment may have an impact on the
uptake of community energy in Australia.
The purpose of the workshop is to:
 Discuss briefly relevant ARENA projects, including those focused on community energy
 Discuss challenges and priorities for community energy and explore where these overlap with
other ARENA funding priorities
 Discuss alternative approaches that could be considered to make accessing funding more
efficient for community energy projects (e.g. lower transaction costs)
 Discuss the role of other stakeholders and sources of funding
16:00 CLOSING | Closing remarks from the Chair