CSIRO names new head of energy with a fuel cell and solar thermal twist

CSIRO has promoted its deputy director of energy to the top role after running a global search for candidates since December.

Dr Dietmar Tourbier has been acting in the role for four months since his predecessor, Dr Marita Niemela, left for Finnish engineering consultancy Rejlers, but officially starts in June.

The former GE executive and aerospace engineering PhD is an expert in fuel cells, a field he’s been working in since his first job out of university with Honeywell, in 1998.

However, fuel cells came after a fascination with space: At Honeywell, he also built an experimental space suit glove using mechanical counter pressure – a technique that swaps out oxygen to puff up a space suit for a hard elastic shell.

His entry to Australia in 2018 was as the director of the commonwealth research organisation’s Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI), which studies concentrated solar power (CSP).

Tourbier told RenewEconomy there’s no “one ‘silver bullet’ solution” to energy generation, with solar thermal suited to heat-intensive, industrial applications, while in fuel cells there is an opportunity to use them in reverse mode — as an electrolyser as well as a power source — to capture the benefit of using in both modes.

“As part of the energy transformation, we can all see there is significant global competition for resources, investment and development of a skilled workforce,” he says.

“In Australia, we continue to need investments from across the board to identify and solve energy related issues for a net zero emissions future and to accelerate commercialisation and scale up across a diverse portfolio of technologies.

“In the last couple of years, CSIRO has developed a very strong strategy that is aligned with the energy transformation of Australia toward net zero. I see that path continuing in terms of research into electrification of energy usage, energy storage, energy transmission and carbon capture utilisation and storage for hard-to-abate sectors.”

Industry links a bonus

But it’s Tourbier’s industry knowledge that attracted the commonwealth research organisation, says Dr Peter Mayfield, CSIRO director for environment, energy and resources.

“Australia’s energy transition to achieving net zero emissions is one of the most pressing research and technological challenges that confronts us,” Mayfield said in a statement.

“Dr Tourbier’s deep industry knowledge and strong networks will help ensure CSIRO’s technological innovations can be expediently deployed to help drive emission reductions across a range of sectors at scale.”