All Energy Conference 2012 Greg Bourne – Chair ARENA Thank you for your welcome. I am delighted to be here today in my official capacity as ARENA’s inaugural Chair. I would like to acknowledge the Kulin nation on whose land we have the privilege of meeting today and to pay my respects to their Elders past and present. 1
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All Energy Conference 2012Greg Bourne – Chair ARENA
Thank you for your welcome. I am delighted to be here today in
my official capacity as ARENA’s inaugural Chair.
I would like to acknowledge the Kulin nation on whose land we
have the privilege of meeting today and to pay my respects to
their Elders past and present.
My objective today is to give you an overview of where
ARENA is at in its short life and where we are heading over the
next few months. And to share with you ARENA’s excitement
at Australia’s renewable energy opportunity.
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We are at an interesting point in ARENA’s life.
ARENA needs to finalise and publish its inaugural general
funding strategy or as the Board think about it – our near term
investment strategy. The Board has been exploring the complexity of our broad
agenda and we are close to solidifying our thinking on what we
believe our near term investments ought to be.
And although we have not quite finished formulating and
clarifying the next steps, we have decades of renewable energy
research and thinking to draw upon.
It is only year one; quarter two for ARENA but fortunately
Australia’s progress in renewable energy is well advanced and
we can draw on and we want to do justice to this knowledge and
history.
Greg Bourne – Chair
Before I go on, I’d like to provide a brief introduction for those
of you that may not have met me.
I am a long time champion for renewable energy and I
understand the challenges that new technologies face in moving
from the desktop to the market.
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I have held a variety of positions, including as Special Adviser
on Energy and Transport to the Prime Minister in the UK
through to, more recently a director of Carnegie Wave Energy.
I spent many years with BP exploring for and producing oil and
gas and quite a few years at home in Australia where BP had a
fantastic solar business.
I was also the CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Australia from
2004 to 2010.
One thing that I have observed during all of these positions is
the passion and determination that the renewable energy sector
has for its work and for delivering a sustainable energy future
for everyone.
My experience to date has given me a great overview of the
history of renewable energy development. This background has
also made me an optimist. Let’s think about where we have
come from.
As Michael Fraser, CEO of AGL, reminded us at the recent
Clean Energy Conference, 150 years ago lighting in Sydney
Harbour was supplied with whale oil.
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So in the same way we have moved from burning whale oil,
candles and kerosene, through to electric powered tungsten
lighting and on to compact fluorescents and LED more recently,
we will move from burning wood for heat, then coal and gas and
on to using a broad range of renewables for heating, cooling and
electricity.
These aren’t clichés but reflect the real rate of technological
progress in my lifetime… well... except the whale oil part.
So where are we now?
As we know, Australia’s energy sector is highly dynamic. There
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are many questions to ask and investigate and, yes, many
opportunities to progress.
In recent years, we have seen the launch of the Clean Energy
Futures package, including a price on carbon. The Australian
Government has also been progressing its Energy White Paper
and my participation on the Paper’s reference group has been
beneficial – hopefully in both directions!
One of the trends I’ve been closely watching is the recent
decline in Australian electricity demand, not predicted, projected
or wanted by energy suppliers, but certainly expected at some
stage by those who look more holistically at energy,
environmental and social aspects of the system.
We need more data to understand this trend. What are the major
causal factors and are their trends predictable? Is it that energy
market reform has enabled better demand side management?
Or, is it the age of energy efficiency? Or, have the changes to