The Commonwealth Government, the Opposition, all state and territory governments, and many businesses are committed to a target of net zero emissions. The Commonwealth has resisted committing to a 2050 timeline. So far, almost all the policy and investment focus has been on electricity. But the 20% of national emissions that come from burning natural gas have been largely ignored, and reducing those emissions looks challenging.
A panel moderated by MEI’s Energy Systems Program Leader, Prof. Pierluigi Mancarella, and comprising Guy Dundas, Energy Fellow at Grattan Institute, Lynne Gallagher, Interim CEO of Energy Consumers Australia, and Andrew Dillon, CEO of Energy Networks Australia, will unravel what this future holds for both households that use gas, and the network businesses that supply them, as well as policy challenges for governments.
This online public forum is jointly supported by the Melbourne Energy Institute and Grattan Institute as one of our Future Energy Series.
Event details
Friday 27 November, 12.30-2pm AEDT
Register here
Speakers
Andrew Dillon is CEO of Energy Networks Australia. He leads the peak national body representing gas distribution and electricity transmission and distribution businesses throughout Australia. He is an experienced energy sector executive with more than two decades in the industry. Andrew has held several executive roles in the energy sector, including AustNet Services, an ASX-listed energy network owner, the Energy Supply Association of Australia and in the Victorian Government. He is a director of the Australian Gas Industry Trust and former Director of Goulburn Valley Water.
Guy Dundas is the Energy Fellow at Grattan Institute. Guy has over ten years’ experience in government and consulting, focusing primarily on how Australia’s energy sector will change in response to climate change policy. His past roles include working for the Australian Productivity Commission, the Climate Change Authority, Vivid Economics, ACIL Allen Consulting and various Australian Government departments. Guy has a Master of Environmental and Resource Economics from the Australian National University, and bachelor’s degrees in both Economics and Politics from the University of Adelaide.
Lynne Gallagher is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Consumers Australia, which is a national voice for residential and small business consumers. She is a member of the Monash Energy Institute’s Advisory Council and Chair of the Advisory Council for the Digital Energy Futures at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University. She has over 25 years experience in the energy sector including social research and demand forecasting. Lynne has a Bachelor in Economics from the Australian National University, majoring in econometrics and pure mathematics.
Moderator
Pierluigi Mancarella is Chair Professor of Electrical Power Systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Professor of Smart Energy Systems at the University of Manchester, UK. Pierluigi obtained the PhD degree in Power Systems from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, has been a Research Associate at Imperial College London, UK, and has held visiting research positions at Sintef/NTNU in Norway and NREL in Colorado, as well as visiting professorships at Ecole Centrale de Lille in France and the Universidad de Chile.