Griffith University Associate Professor Tim Nelson will lead a review of the National Energy Market (NEM).
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Brisbane-based energy markets expert would be joined by Paula Conboy, Ava Hancock and Philip Hirschhorn on the independent panel with recommendations to be delivered to Government in late 2025.
Minister Bowen said the review would look into how Australia’s largest electricity grid and market would operate in the coming decades, with the aim of keeping costs low for households and business, while better managing the rapid increase and integration of rooftop solar and utility scale reliable renewables.
He said the panel would look at NEM wholesale market settings to ensure the market promoted investment in firmed renewable energy generation and storage capacity into the 2030s and beyond.
“This is vital as electricity demand grows and ageing coal fired power stations exit the system,” he said.
Minister Bowen said the NEM was one of the world’s largest interconnected networks with around 40,000 km of transmission lines and cables and supplying electricity to more than 23 million people.
“It covers all states and territories apart from Western Australia and the Northern Territory and was originally designed to support a baseload power grid predominantly fuelled by coal generators.”
He said the review had become increasingly important to ensure the right settings were in place to meet increasing demand for electricity, and to support a smooth transition to reliable renewables as aging coal fired power stations are retired from the system.
Independent panel members:
- Associate Professor Tim Nelson is a leading public figure in energy markets with experience across academia, government, and industry. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at Griffith University and has held a range of senior roles with Iberdrola, a renewable energy developer, AGL, and the Australian Energy Markets Commission.
- Paula Conboy has 25 years’ experience in energy market regulation and is the former Chair of the Australian Energy Regulator. Ms Conboy brings a wealth of experience including from the international context.
- Ava Hancock brings expertise in electricity market policy and has strong experience in renewable energy project development. Ms Hancock played a pivotal role in design of the NSW Energy Roadmap.
- Phil Hirschhorn was a Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner advising Australian energy businesses and government agencies and completed a BCG Henderson Institute Fellowship, researching electricity markets.
