The Storage Imperative: Powering Australia’s Clean Energy Transition

Australia’s clean energy future relies on large-scale electricity storage—a critical but often misunderstood element. Without it, our targets of 43% emissions reduction and 82% renewable energy by 2030, and net zero by 2050, remain out of reach.

The economics and operational dynamics of storage are poorly understood, creating barriers to progress and investment.

A new white paper, The Storage Imperative: Powering Australia’s Clean Energy Transition, based on ground-breaking research led by Associate Professor Guillaume Roger, funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, challenges conventional wisdom, offers critical insights, and highlights intervention pathways for the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Join us in launching this paper, featuring a keynote from Australian Energy Market Commission Chair, Anna Collyer, critical insights from Associate Professor Guillaume Roger, and a panel discussion with Energy Australia’s Trading and Transition Executive, Ross Edwards moderated by Professor Simon Wilkie, Dean of Monash Business School.

Keynote speaker

Ms Anna Collyer, Chair, Australian Energy Market Commission

Anna Collyer has more than two decades of experience in the Australian energy sector and has worked extensively on industry reform. Along with Chair of AEMC, Anna was appointed Chair of the Energy Security Board (ESB) on 1 November 2021, charged with delivering the Post-2025 energy market reforms to create a power system fit for the future. In May 2023, the Energy Ministers agreed for the ESB to transition and become the Energy Advisory Panel (EAP) from 1 July 2023. Anna is the Chair of the EAP.

Panelist

Ross Edwards, Trading and Transition Executive, Energy Australia

Ross is Energy Australia’s Trading and Transition Executive. Ross and his team play an important role in leading and accelerating the clean energy transition. Their work extends across the business from providing competitive energy prices for our customers, building our future energy portfolio and working with our key stakeholders and communities in the transformation of our energy system.
Ross began working with TXU, which later became EnergyAustralia, in January 2003. During his more than two decades with the business Ross’s roles have covered strategy, business development and wholesale market operations.

Presenter

Associate Professor Guillaume Roger, Monash Business School

Guillaume holds a PhD in Economics from USC where he studied under Jean-Jacques Laffont. His long-standing research interest is the design of incentives. At Monash he founded the Australian Electricity Markets Initiative. There he works on questions of market design when fixed costs matter, how storage operates in an electricity market, market design for storage and how to elicit forecast information from intermittent energy producers.

Moderator

Professor Simon Wilkie, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics and Head of Monash Business School

Professor Simon Wilkie’s career spans a remarkable array of roles that extend beyond the higher education sphere and include appointments as Chief Economic Policy Strategist at Microsoft Corporation and Chief Economist with the US Federal Communications Commission. In 2019, Professor Wilkie joined Monash Business School from the University of Southern California (USC), where he was Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Professor of Economics, Communication and Law in the USC Gould School of Law.

Host

Shreejan Pandey, Director, Monash Energy Institute

As the director of Monash Energy Institute, Shreejan is responsible for the Institute's operations and for developing multidisciplinary programs and partnerships that accelerate sustainable energy transitions and emissions reductions. With a background in power systems engineering and 15+ years of experience in the energy and research sectors, Shreejan has contributed significantly to flagship renewable energy deployment projects and research initiatives. His interests include energy systems and energy policy.

Program

• Arrival and refreshments: 4:00 pm
• Event commences: 4:30 pm
• Welcome: Shreejan Pandey
• Keynote: Ms Anna Collyer
• Paper presentation: Associate Professor Guillaume Roger
• Panel session: Anna Collyer, Ross Edwards, Associate Professor Guillaume Roger; moderated by Professor Simon Wilkie
• Q&A
• Drinks and canapés: 5:50 - 6:20 pm
• Event concludes: 6:20 pm

Monash College is located at 750 Collins Street, Melbourne. For directions to the venue, please click this link.