" Really well organised with great content "
"The dinner and entertainment were also great!"
"Excellent and informative two days. Well done!"
"I found understanding the electricity industry issues very helpful and it gave me food for thought on ideas the water industry can consider to reduce its GHG footprint while not causing grief to the power networks."
"The technical program covered at EECON22 touched on a very broad range of topics across the industry and provided a lot of value.”
“Excellent content with great speakers, great exhibitors and really well run."
EECON 2022 GALLERY
EECON 2022 – A HUGE SUCCESS!
As many of you would be aware EECON 2022, with the theme “Our Energy Future and Unlocking Net Zero” was held in Brisbane at the Royal International Convention Centre on 11th and 12th October 2022. There were approximately 260 delegates over both days.
Reflecting on the key messages from the speakers, we learnt that the traditional approach to manage and maintain electricity supply and reliability throughout both rural and urban networks is changing. At present there are significant impacts based on emerging technology and customer
desire to change their energy use.
As a result, we all need to reflect on our area of expertise as well as the role we play in working towards our energy future and unlocking our inspiring target of net zero. The decisions that we make now need to contribute toward our common goal as the infrastructure assets we commission
will last 50 or more years.
Thank you to our two opening Keynote speakers who set the tone for the conference.
- John O'Brien - Partner, Energy, Sustainability &; Climate - Deloitte Asia Pacific and
- Peter Price - Executive General Manager Engineering - Energy Queensland
They provided us with their insights into all the challenges that they expect us to have to deal with as we move towards Net Zero.
We also were fortunate to have great speakers in our two panel sessions, who gave a great insight into the opportunities that lie over the next few years.
Our first panel discussed the question “How should solutions from the past and present guide our energy future?” Thank you to John O’Brien, Peter Price, Emma Roberts, and Carly Irving-Dolan.
Our second panel discussed the question “What are the missing keys that will unlock net zero?”
Thank you to Paul Godden, Craig Chambers, Jacqui Bridge and Mark Paterson. Price, Emma Roberts, and Carly Irving-Dolan.
EECON 2022 has also provided us with a great line-up of more than forty interesting and informative speakers across a range of subject areas. Our ten technical sessions covered a range of areas.
We learnt that Solar and wind generation together with roof top PV will be spread across many locations and will be connected at all network levels – hence Distributed Energy Resources – DER – is becoming a very popular term. As homes, vehicles and industrial applications switch away from gas and petroleum fuels to electricity this will further increase demand on our electricity systems of the future.
Moving towards a 100% renewable power system requires balancing an increasingly variable resource mix, the provision of inertia and system strength services and coordinating increasing decentralised participation.
As variable renewable energy increases, and the coal and gas fired synchronous generation fleet retires, large-scale energy storage will play an increasingly crucial role in the electricity grid of the future. They will provide whole-of-system stability services, as well as operating as a shock absorber against local network contingency events. Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) connection will also enable Electric Vehicles (EVs) to also act like a grid-connected battery.
Virtual Power Plant platforms will play a critical role as businesses invest in distributed energy assets, storage, and hybrid renewable energy solutions. Virtual power plants are just one of many new approaches that will shape tomorrow's energy system.
Distributed Energy Resources and the electrification of homes and transport will present stability and security issues for the electricity grid resulting in DNSPs looking to innovations in the IoT space. DNSPs will need better data to reduce outages, meet budget constraints and build more resilient networks and thus DNSPs are implementing digital transformation programs to create a digital twin of their networks. Digital twin technology can unlock the value of LiDAR data, asset management data, GIS data as well as external data sources to create a 3D model for network assets and the environment it operates in. Techno-economic modelling and simulation and Distribution System State Estimation are also IT tools being used in this much more complex future for distribution networks.
The impact of rooftop PV generation on power quality, consumer appliances as well as earthing systems for power system security and personnel safety needs to be managed. Voltage rise on LV systems will become a problem and using solutions like Distribution Static Compensator technology is one of a number of options being explored for boosting DER hosting capacity.
We also learnt that Stand Alone Power Systems (SAPS) - solar panels, battery storage and a backup generator - are becoming the alternative solution for hard-to-access or remote communities. These also assist with managing the risk that climate change and severe weather events pose for customers and DNSPs in certain areas.
As a result of our EECON 2022 speakers, we gained an in-depth understanding of the issues impacting the ever-changing electric energy businesses, the methods and tools which have worked successfully, as well as the opportunities and challenges still to be managed!
One of the important aspects of EECON is to recognise our presenters. EESA has had for many years awarded Conway and Cresswell prizes to the best paper presenters. These prize winners will be attending the New Zealand EEA Conference in Christchurch in 2023 to present these papers.
The Conway Prize - which is awarded to the best paper presentation by a member of EESA. As some background A M Conway was the first president of the Electricity Supply Engineers Association (formed in 1924), later to be known as the Electric Energy Society of Australia.
Keilah David from SA Power Networks was awarded the Conway Prize for her presentation on “Operational experiences from a 100% solar network”. The judges were impressed by the ability Keilah was able to effectively communicate the contents of the presentation and handle the audience questions.
The Cresswell Prize which is awarded to the best paper presentation by a non-member of EESA. As some background A J Cresswell held the presidency of the Electricity Supply Engineers Association in 1932-33 and 1945-46. He also served as Treasurer in 1931-32.
Megan Jones from Circular PV Alliance was awarded the Cresswell Prize for her presentation on “Circularity for solar energy - the future of energy through solar panel reuse”. The judges were captivated by the contents of the presentation as it is a component of the net zero future that is not actively discussed.
The Cresswell Prize which is awarded to the best paper presentation by a non-member of EESA. As some background A J Cresswell held the presidency of the Electricity Supply Engineers Association in 1932-33 and 1945-46. He also served as Treasurer in 1931-32.
Megan Jones from Circular PV Alliance was awarded the Cresswell Prize for her presentation on “Circularity for solar energy - the future of energy through solar panel reuse”. The judges were captivated by the contents of the presentation as it is a component of the net zero future that is not actively discussed.
A big thank you to our sponsors who have been a very important part of this conference and without their unwavering support, this conference would not have been possible, especially Energex and Ergon Energy Network as our Diamond Sponsor, The NRMA as our Platinum Dinner Sponsor, Our Gold Sponsor EPEC Group, SEL as our Silver Sponsor, Tyree Transformers and Powerlink as our Bronze Sponsors. We would also like to recognise our generous conference sponsors: Titan Poles, Molekulis, Aurecon and Cargill. Thank you to our wonderful exhibitors and our media partners APT Publications and Energy Source and Distribution
I would like in particular to thank the EECON 2022 organising committee who have worked tirelessly alongside me to make EECON 2022 such a success - Gustavo Azevedo, Mitchell Tap, Han Chiu, Ian Nichols, Kim Boyd, Marcus Leaver, and Tim Browne and our PCO - Debbie Haddock from Purely Creative Solutions!
Harsh Gupta, EESA Victorian Chapter Chair and his team are excited to see many of you at EECON 2023 in Melbourne in November 2023.
Amy Phan - EECON2022 Conference Chair and Queensland Chapter Chair