The role of large scale battery storage in Australia's energy transition?

The Role of Large Scale Battery Storage in Australia’s Energy Transition?

Energy storage is a potential solution to the critical challenges facing the power grid today. In Australia, we have felt the volatility of our power supply with the South Australian blackouts beginning late September 2016 and will continue to feel the impacts of a system in transition with the closure of the Victorian Hazelwood power station next week.

Our upcoming seminar will help to inform Australian industry stakeholders of the battery storage opportunity. Looking at the US market results and outlooks since significant grid scale battery storage has been rolled out, our panel of technical and business experts will explore the opportunity in the Australian context. Could it be a solution for Australia and will it help deliver affordable, reliable energy?

John Jung the CEO of US-based GreenSmith Energy, the leading United States battery provider will speak to his experience leading the delivery the major market share of grid scale battery storage in the US. The panel will also include Professor Terry Jones who will talk to technical limitations and requirements for grid stability, Chris Murphy will cover the cost impacts and the Virtual Power Plant approach, while Professor Ross Garnaut will look at the Zen Energy and GreenSmith partnership and the opportunity that this provides for Australia.

Speaker bios

John Jung, President and CEO, Greensmith Energy

John has led the company from concept to market leadership in grid-scale energy storage technology since joining in 2009. He set the technology and strategic vision for Greensmith early on: to provide the industry's most advanced, proven energy storage technology platform to the largest power companies around the world. John was awarded Smart Grid Pioneer by Bloomberg New Energy and SmartGrid Today, and Greensmith was selected as the industry's fastest growing company by Deloitte Fast500.

Prior to Greensmith, John held C-level roles at four VC-backed technology companies operating globally, including an electronic marketplace that served 21 of the 25 largest electric utilities in North America. John also served as principal strategy consultant for A.T. Kearney and Braxton Associates in the areas of corporate/business unit strategy, enterprise transformation and portfolio/growth strategy. John holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Sciences from the University of Western Ontario.

Ross Garnaut, Chairman of ZEN Energy

Ross is an economist whose career has been built around the analysis of and practice of policy connected to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. Apart from Senior Australian and international Academic and Government roles, Ross has chaired the Boards of Directors of substantial Australian and international companies since 1985 (Bank of Western Australia, Primary Industry Australia, Aluminium Smelters of Victoria, Lonely Planet Publications, PNG Sustainable Development Limited, Lihir Gold Ltd).

Chris Murphy, Powershop

Chris Murphy is a Strategic Advisor at Powershop Australia and Meridian Energy. He is also a long term member of the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Reliability Panel. With a background in merchant banking and corporate finance, and a commitment to innovation, Chris has been involved in the Electricity industry for over 20 years working in the Retail, Generation, Distribution and demand response sectors. Chris is also a pioneer in the use of solar and storage having installed a personal  standalone PV and battery storage system in 1991.

Terry Jones, Enterprise Professor, The University of Melbourne

Terry Jones 35+ years' experience with the Utility industry globally. During this time he has led teams in SCADA, Protection and Control, Communications, Metering and Energy Trading. He has worked extensively in Europe and Scandinavia, the Middle East and most recently in Australia.  In Australia Terry was originally involved with wholesale energy trading and the NEM systems. Terry worked for some time with CSIRO where he was Theme Leader of the Local Energy Solutions Theme in the Energy Transformed Flagship working with Smart Grids, embedded generation, energy efficiency and demand management. Terry then moved to SP Ausnet, tasked to implement Distributed Energy solutions in the electricity Distribution network such as domestic and network storage, demand side response and Mini grids. Terry is now an Enterprise Professor with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne and continues to work part-time as a consultant in the industry.

Moderator: Leslie Martin, Centre for Market Design, The University of Melbourne

Leslie is a lecturer (assistant professor) in the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne. Her primary research fields are environmental economics and energy economics, while her secondary fields are industrial organisation and international development. Leslie's research currently focuses on: consumer responses to the availability of smart meter data in markets with retail competition, and the interactions between regulation, firms, and environmental outcomes in industrialising countries. Leslie holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in applied math from MIT. She spent several years as a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, studying the impact of climate change-related disasters on developing countries, and as a consultant for the World Bank in Bolivia working on productivity and competitiveness, pension reform, and hydrocarbon taxes.