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State of Energy Research Conference

Professor Heather Lovell and Dr Phillipa Watson were invited to present keynotes at the State of Energy Research conference (SoERC) at ANU (3-4th July 2019). This conference was organised by a national energy research network, called Energy Research Institutes Council for Australia (ERICA). The UTAS Future Energy group was invited to become a member of ERICA last year, and Dr Clinton Levitt (COBE) was a member of the conference organising committee. Heather spoke on ‘Selective memory of past energy and climate policies’, drawing on two cases from her ARC Future Fellowship research where many social and technical learnings have been forgotten. Phillipa presented ‘Demand Management Solutions’ and related issues for the design of electricity demand management programs that emerged from social research on CONSORT Bruny Island Battery Trial (a Tasmanian battery Trial that finished in March this year).

The conference facilitated presentations on, and discussion of, a broad array of energy supply and production related topics. In what is a fast-paced energy supply transition in Australia, this sort of conference is critical. Organisers ensured that various approaches to energy research were given space, and both discipline-focused and interdisciplinary projects were presented. Further, in what added to the rich mix of perspectives and approaches, presenters and panellists were equally male and female in number.

Critical discussions were held on transport impacts and vehicle types, battery development for lower impact and smarter use of batteries, the Australian electricity network into the future, strategies to think about and engage energy users in electricity transitions and much more.  If you would like to know more, the conference handbook is available from the conference website, or you can speak to Phillipa (Phillipa.watson@utas.edu.au).


Photos are of the logo of the project Phillipa talked about and of the tech used for the project. The technology in the pictures is what allows householders to share their energy with the network when there are peak electricity needs on the network. She discussed what they learnt from householders about demand management during this (the CONSORT Bruny Island Battery Trial) project.


Published on: 11 Sep 2019 11:23am