Grounded #1 Webinar summary

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The first installment of the Grounded Webinar series hosted by the Monash Energy Club invited Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton; Professorial Fellow and renowned energy expert Chloe Munro; Partner, Energy Transition and Decarbonisation at Deloitte John O’Brien; and Country Head Aus/NZ at Vestas Peter Cowling to discuss the main drivers that will change Australia's energy mix in the next 10-20 years.

All four panelists were optimistic that Australia will witness a rapid decarbonisation in the next decade and that wind and solar energy will be the main driving forces behind this movement. Currently most of the effort to decarbonise Australia has come from the electricity sector but panelists informed the audience that other sectors such as transport and manufacturing are making more conscientious efforts to use renewable energy sources.

Mr Thorton said that if Australia can get on top of their energy sector sooner rather than later the country could set itself up as a prominent resource for renewable energies which could be outsourced to help other countries.

Ms Munro also made a very interesting point that natural gas has missed its opportunity to be the transitional fuel and that the hydrogen export industry could potentially play a vital role in the energy sector. Mr O'Brien admitted he was sceptical about the use of hydrogen but has since come around and also predicts that hydrogen will play a large role in Australia’s energy sector.

While a lot of the progress made in Australia’s energy sector has come about under a relatively unengaged Federal Government, Mr Cowling said that more policy surrounding the energy industry could help assist in a smoother transition to renewable energy sources. He also highlighted that more financial support from the government could help with more complicated issues such as installation of the grid and storage of energy.

The webinar ended with a brief discussion on nuclear energy. Ms Munro kicked off the discussion by saying from an economical perspective nuclear energy is not a viable option which both Mr O'brien and Mr Throton agreed with. Mr Cowling would like to give the contentious energy source a chance to prove itself as a viable option in Australia, however, he also agrees nuclear doesn’t make economic sense in Australia.

Overall, all the panelists were in agreement that Australia’s energy sector was heading in the right direction and predicted these changes will happen sooner than expected.