New research hub to tackle energy transition’s toughest challenges

Solutions to some of the energy market’s toughest challenges, including how to best manage the transition to cleaner energy sources, could soon have answers with a new research collaboration set to bring together some of Australia’s best energy experts.

A new hub for research and policy development has been established at the Griffith Business School, part of the Brisbane-based Griffith University, which it is hoped will help guide and support Australia’s broader transition to clean energy.

The Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research (CAEEPR) has been created through a collaboration between a range of leading Australian clean energy investors, advisory groups and government agencies, including Stanwell Corporation, CS Energy, Iberdrola, CleanCo, King & Wood Malleson and the Queensland Treasury Corporation.

Griffith Business School energy economist professor Paul Simshauser – who previously served as the chief economist for AGL Energy and as general manager for energy trading at Stanwell Corporation – said the collaboration would be vital in providing expert advice to governments and investors during a period of significant upheaval in the energy sector.

“The electricity industry is going through an enormous transformation at the moment as it decarbonises. It’s one of the key sectors of the economy, and you need to have it firing on all cylinders,” Simshauser said.

“To hit net zero emissions, you need to work out how best to get the grid operating on a largely carbon free basis.

“We have the industry backing and academic expertise to address these big challenges.”

Simshauser was able to draw upon his connections within both the energy industry and Griffith University to lead the formation of the research collaboration.

CAEEPR has set itself the aim of supporting the transition to a lower emissions energy system, including through offering solutions to power generation and network investment planning.

The group has developed a detailed model of the National Electricity Market that will be used to test and validate different development scenarios for Australia’s evolving electricity system.

At CAEEPR, Simshauser will join a number of leading Australian energy market experts, including former AGL and chief economist Tim Nelson, Iberdrola’s Joel Gilmore and Phillip Wild. The hub will seek to develop improved knowledge and understanding of how to best manage the transition to clean energy sources while also nurturing new energy policy expertise.

“The Centre only launched a couple of months ago, but we’re already getting people putting their hand up for PhDs and postgraduate research,” Simshauser said.

“We’re able to deal with the issues facing industry, government and policymakers in real time.

“And with electricity market reforms and all of the climate change implications, there’s no end to the help and advice that governments will need to navigate this, because it’s really complex,” Simshauser added.

Former Queensland state government minister Rod Welford, who currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Griffith Business School, will also become a founding member of the CAEEPR group and said it was well placed to deliver solutions to many of the technical and policy challenges currently faced by the energy sector.

“We want our research capability to be able to unpack and resolve some of the big challenges that we’re facing in the electricity and energy industry,” Welford said.

“The starting point is that the centre has access to high-definition data about energy use across the Queensland electricity grid.

“Drawing on that data will allow us to identify solutions to the big challenges that need to be addressed.”