Advisory Panel

Susan Mallan brings more than 25 years’ experience in the energy sector to her advisory roles on energy developments across Australia. She has worked in listed, privately owned and Government corporations across the upstream exploration and development, power generation and electricity sectors. She has led teams in commercial, project management, technical, operational services and corporate functions.

A qualified mechanical and petroleum engineer with a Masters in Business Administration, Susan has worked extensively across Australia, the Middle East, Indonesia and North America. Susan holds a Company Directors Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty Academic Board, UNSW’s School of Petroleum Engineering Industry Advisory Board and the Women in Mining & Resources Queensland Committee.

Dr Godfrey’s career has been built in business, innovation investment and technology development fields. He has focused on the advancement and commercialisation of technologies (particularly new energy technologies – renewable, enabling and low emission fossil), investment readiness of products and companies, and innovation policy and programs.

In addition to his full-time management, technical and consulting roles since 1980, Bruce has been a member of assessment committees for numerous Commonwealth and Victorian government R&D and innovation and deployment support programs across a wide range of energy technologies including solar, wind, geothermal, marine, biofuels, fuel cells, hydrogen, battery storage, enabling and distributed energy resources integration and brown coal utilisation. He understands well the opportunities and challenges for developers and suppliers of new and renewable energy technologies, products and services that are used in or could penetrate energy supply chains in Australia and overs

Bruce is a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). He has Chaired Expert Working Groups for the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) on Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility (2015) and on Energy Storage (2017). He is Chair of the Board of Energy Renaissance Pty Ltd and is a Non Executive Director of the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre Limited.

Geoff is a mechanical engineer, and has specialised in energy efficiency since 1985.

He is the founder and MD of Genesis Now (1991), which has completed over 2,500 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in most industry sectors. He has won industry awards including national energy efficiency champion, and is recognised as a leader and innovator in energy efficiency.

Geoff also co-founded six clean-tech companies, is an early stage investor in renewable energy companies, and is an active member of the Melbourne Angel Investor group.

Mr Cawley has technical energy experience from well or mine, through processing and transmission, to generation, with an extensive knowledge of energy use in the resources and industrial sectors.

He also has a strong exposure to renewables including the design and construction of a pilot biodiesel plant, detailed peer review of a solar flagship CST plant and multiple analyses of renewable options in the industrial and resources sectors.

Mr Cawley’s commercial experience includes the purchase and re-development of a gas turbine cogen plant, founding and leading a specialised energy efficiency engineering business for 13 years and recently, the successful founding and funding of a start-up with an efficiency focus. Mr Cawley’s capabilities in the emerging energy sector are underlined by his election to the well-contested board of the Energy Efficiency Council of Australia three times.

Mr Cawley also has significant firsthand experience of innovation within the energy sector, with several new technologies and solutions delivered by his company as well as the new start-up.

Peter is a Director and co-founder of Seed Advisory having established it in 2008. Peter has over 25 years’ experience including 20 years in the energy sector. His work focus within the energy industry has included advisory and direct energy retail and wholesale experience in executive management positions at EnergyAustralia, AGL, Pulse Energy, United Energy and IKON Energy.

Peter’s experience in the energy industry spans the energy value chain and covers strategy, risk management, policy and regulatory development, retail marketing, wholesale trading, analysis and corporate development.

He has worked with start up, small, medium and large companies including corporate consumers, retailers, networks, wholesale market participants, market operators, regulators, governments and investors. He has a detailed understanding of the Australian energy and renewable energy sectors covering the National Electricity Market, the Northern Territory Market and the West Australian market. Peter is also an actuary with strong quantitative and risk management skills.

Mr Frearson has significant expertise in developing and commercialising renewable energy technologies. His experience includes prefeasibility through to construction management of renewable energy generation projects.

Notably he was involved in the first MW scale PV plant in Australia. He has previously worked to develop innovative approaches to automation and manufacturing during his seven years at Ford.

Mr Frearson has expertise in project finance assessment, off grid and edge of grid energy projects and markets with technical expertise in solar PV, solar thermal and enabling technologies.

Kellie Larsen has over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry across a wide variety of roles. Working at the intersection of traditional fossil fuels, commodity markets and renewable energy sectors, Kellie is a trusted advisor to Boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK.

Kellie provides independent management consulting advice for clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels, renewable and biofuels markets, and as well as advisory for critical energy and supply chain infrastructure clients. She specialises in executive, operational and decarbonisation strategy, including integrating ESG and sustainability issues into core business activities. Her other services include M&A advisory and change management implementation. Kellie has a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) from the University of Adelaide, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Directors.

Kim is a non-executive director and advisor in renewable energy, sustainability and sailing sector. She has wide ranging commercial and legal experience encompassing the energy, mining, commodity markets, banking and finance sectors both within private sector and Government enterprises. She is a strategic thinker and innovator who has led investment strategy and business development to build new businesses across multiple geographies and new markets.

Kim has qualifications in law, natural resource economics and finance and has previously held senior executive roles are the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Low Carbon Australia and Macquarie Bank both in Australia and the USA.

Dr Lovegrove is the Head – Solar Thermal for the UK based renewable energy consulting company ITPower. He has 28 years of experience in Solar Thermal Energy combined with 15 years of teaching experience in Energy Systems and Systems Engineering.

He was previously the leader of the Solar Thermal Group at the Australian National University. In that role he was the lead inventor and team leader of the 500m2 Generation II Big Dish solar concentrator, recognized with a Light Weight Structures Association of Australia, 2009 design award.

Dr Lovegrove has authored or co-authored more than 160 publications including 2 patents and 7 books, chapters and major public reports. He was the primary editor of the 2012 book “Concentrating Solar Power Technology” by Woodhead publishing UK. In 2012, he was a Member of the Australian Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, Expert Working Group on Climate Energy and Water Links.

Robert is an experienced economist, and commercial and regulatory advisor with expertise in regulatory policy and practice in Australia’s energy, water and transport sectors. He is expert in energy grid access regulation, having designed rules and incentive schemes, managed price reviews, and advised on regulatory, contestability and tariff strategy. He has a master of regulatory economics from Australian National University.

Over the past two decades Robert has applied his knowledge of energy policy, regulation and commercial strategy to advise clients across Australia and Asia. In recent years, he has applied himself to the electricity transmission and distribution network regulatory and pricing reforms needed to facilitate energy transition. He is recognised for his considered approach to solving commercial and policy problems, adapting and applying regulatory regimes, and engaging customers and stakeholders in business and regulatory decisions.

John has worked for over 40 years as a professional engineer and businessman holding executive‐level roles in both the public and private sector for utilities and advisory firms. John’s specific roles have included participation in Australian and international energy markets, projects and operations.

Over the last 20 years John has founded a number of highly successful consulting businesses providing strategic advice on both energy markets and electricity infrastructure to major utility and resources companies. CopperString, the largest single electricity network project in Australia, was founded by John and was designed to open up the sustainable resources corridor between Townsville and Mt Isa.

John also has investments in a number of significant energy and resources related project developments, and has played an active role in the economic development planning for northern Queensland. John travels extensively to provide strategic advice, business input and thought leadership across Australia and internationally.

Dr Watt is an energy sector analyst for renewable energy engineering company ITP Renewables. She also assists the APVI with its IEA PVPS liaison and its Australian PV Manufacturing Initiative and is a Board Member of Zero Emissions Byron, where she leads the Electric Vehicle and Emissions reporting programs.

Muriel has worked with government agencies, universities and industry in the areas of renewable energy development, policy and application since 1980. She worked at the University of NSW for 25 years, finishing as an Associate Professor in the School of PV and Renewable Energy Engineering. She established and Chaired the Australian PV Institute (APVI), acted in various committee roles, including Chair, for the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society, Chaired the Policy Group for the Australian CRC for Renewable Energy, was the Australian Executive Committee member on theIEA PV Power Systems (PVPS) Implementing Agreement for 10 years, a member of the Australian Solar Institute Research Advisory Committee and member of the Solar Flagship Education Infrastructure Fund Advisory Board.

Heidi is a Chemical Engineer with 20 years of broad industry experience across Renewable Energy (solar, wind), Carbon Capture and Storage, Oil and Gas (GTL, CTL), Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology sectors. This experience stretches across three continents, covering the complete lifecycle of multi-disciplinary complex projects. This exposure has given Heidi a solid foundation across the feasibility, design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance phases as well as project management and delivery and people and team management through professional consulting, engineering and client side/operational capacities.

Heidi is the Industry Director for Aurecon’s Energy business, responsible for establishing and implementing the strategy for the energy market in Australia and New Zealand to support clients navigate through the rapid transformation occurring in the energy sector.

Jackie Barber has a wealth of experience having operated in energy markets for over 25 years both in the UK and Australia. She has a background in energy trading and operated at Executive General Management level at Tarong Energy Corporation and then Stanwell Corporation when the companies merged in 2011.

More recently, Jackie joined forces with fellow enthusiasts to form a new company called Energy Market Matters Australia (emma) with a focus on supporting businesses navigate the transition to a more energy efficient and sustainable future. Data wrangling, analysis, visualisation and simple communication of insights is where the journey often begins with customers. This leads to smarter procurement and investment in energy efficiency and/or new infrastructure and technology to lower the cost of energy and improve environmental outcomes.

Dr Watt is an energy sector analyst for renewable energy engineering company ITP Renewables. She also assists the APVI with its IEA PVPS liaison and its Australian PV Manufacturing Initiative and is a Board Member of Zero Emissions Byron, where she leads the Electric Vehicle and Emissions reporting programs.

Muriel has worked with government agencies, universities and industry in the areas of renewable energy development, policy and application since 1980. She worked at the University of NSW for 25 years, finishing as an Associate Professor in the School of PV and Renewable Energy Engineering. She established and Chaired the Australian PV Institute (APVI), acted in various committee roles, including Chair, for the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society, Chaired the Policy Group for the Australian CRC for Renewable Energy, was the Australian Executive Committee member on theIEA PV Power Systems (PVPS) Implementing Agreement for 10 years, a member of the Australian Solar Institute Research Advisory Committee and member of the Solar Flagship Education Infrastructure Fund Advisory Board.

Geoff is a mechanical engineer, and has specialised in energy efficiency since 1985.

He is the founder and MD of Genesis Now (1991), which has completed over 2,500 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in most industry sectors. He has won industry awards including national energy efficiency champion, and is recognised as a leader and innovator in energy efficiency.

Geoff also co-founded six clean-tech companies, is an early stage investor in renewable energy companies, and is an active member of the Melbourne Angel Investor group.

Dr Milliken has over a decade of experience in new solar energy research and development, with particular focus on industrialisation of new technologies. He has managed numerous multi- million-dollar solar technology development projects in Australia and internationally bridging industry and academia with a view to realising scalable innovations suitable for commercialisation.

Holding a Doctorate in Materials Engineering, Dr Milliken is also a Chartered Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Science Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) Evaluation Panel Member. He was Chief Technology Officer of Dyesol and Greatcell Solar, Australian Stock Exchange listed companies with an international footprint developing dye sensitised and perovskite solar cells.

Professor Catchpole is a Professor in the School of Engineering at the Australian National University and is internationally recognised as a global leader in solar energy. Her work in light- matter interaction for solar cells led to the award of the John Booker Medal for Engineering Science from the Australian Academy of Science. Her group has also demonstrated record efficiency perovskite solar cells, while their work on direct solar-to-hydrogen generation was listed as one of the top 10 innovations by the Innovation for a Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) in 2020. She has research interests in solar cells, solar fuels, and the broader energy transition.

Professor Durose is a Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Liverpool where he leads the thin film PV materials and devices research group. He has 38 years of experience in the field and has published over 220 original papers. His laboratory has capabilities in new materials synthesis, fundamental materials characterisation, device fabrication and device evaluation, including efficiency limiting mechanisms. Professor Durose has worked on a wide range of solar

PV technologies, including those with II-V, III-V, III-VI and hybrid and all-inorganic perovskite materials. He has acted as Director of the Durham University Centre for Renewable Energy and of the University of Liverpool’s Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy. He has also been Principal Investigator on a number of large-scale PV research initiatives in the UK, including two SUPERGEN consortia and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics.

Dr Davies is a Professor and head of the Applied Photochemistry Group and part of the Senior Management Team in the SPECIFIC IKC, Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea University. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Dr Davies is an EPSRC Innovation Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research is focused on the photochemistry of materials that are useful for low-cost photovoltaic applications, with the ultimate aim of improving stability, sustainability, light harvesting efficiency and performance.

Particularly interested in the characterisation of re-manufactured devices (“photochemistry/photophysics of the re-use of materials”) and developing materials and processes to enable re-use and re manufacture within a circular economy to develop the next generation of solar PV materials. He has been active in advising and influencing policy of the Royal Society of Chemistry and national UK Government on issues of circular economy, emerging technologies and electronic waste.

Denis is the owner of DDC Solar LLC, providing consulting to the PV industry to assist companies to develop and improve their cell and module technology.

Denis was the co-founder and CEO of TetraSun, a start-up that developed high efficiency processes and solar cells architectures. After TetraSun was acquired by First Solar in 2013, Denis led the team that designed, installed and ramped a production line based in Kulim (Malaysia) dedicated to manufacturing TetraSun cells and modules. Prior to the founding of TetraSun, Denis was Director of Solar Cell R&D at SunPower.

Denis also has expertise in cell and module reliability, product development and supply chain management.

Dr Duttagupta has a PhD degree from National University of Singapore. His PhD research was world-class in the area of surface passivation for high-efficiency silicon solar cells. He was the winner of the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) Prize for Best PhD Project in the ECE Department, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS). In addition, his PhD thesis won the SolarWorld Junior Einstein Runners-up Award. He has obtained world class results in relation to electronic surface passivation of silicon surfaces for solar cell applications. Dr Duttagupta’s research performance is recognised by several international conference talks and awards, including a “Young Scientist Award” in Singapore at the international PVSEC-26 conference in 2016 (>1000 attendees). Since 2016, he has developed an ultrafast method for deposition of doped semiconductors that is required for “cost-effective” manufacturing of passivated contact solar cells.

Along with his team, he has also developed a lean process for monoPolyTM solar cell technology. His research team have won APVIA Technological Achievement Award at SNEC 2019 and Research Partner Award at World Solar Congress (WSC) 2019 – both for the monoPolyTM high-efficiency technology. Dr Duttagupta is leading several government and industry funded R&D programs focused on the research, development, commercialisation & deployment of high- efficiency photovoltaic products – both silicon-based & based on novel thin-films (e.g.,perovskites, modified CIGS) on Si. He has two official appointments in SERIS, one a Deputy Cluster (Department) Director and another leading a R&D Group. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at NUS.

Professor Meredith is Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Sustainable Advanced Materials, Professor of Physics and Director of the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials at Swansea University in the UK. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland where he also previously founded and Directed UQ Solar. Paul has worked for over 20 years on the development of multiple next generation photovoltaic technologies as well as the deployment of large-scale commercial technology. He is co-founder of several start-up companies in solar energy materials and was part of the Queensland Government panel in 2016 that designed and implemented the ambitious 50% by 2030 Queensland Renewable Energy Target now in legislation.

Dr Lin has over 15 years of experience in cutting edge technologies in both Photovoltaic (PV) and Semiconductor industry and has been the Lead PI and Project Manager for various public projects on applied PV research.

Dr Lin currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Tandem Solar Cells Group in Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Dr Lin has been managing the Flagship Project at SERIS, working towards industrially viable large-area highly efficient thin film on silicon tandem solar cells. Meanwhile, she has also extensive experience working with companies including globally leading PV industrial players from US, Europe and China.

Dr Lin’s current research interests include highly efficient and transparent perovskite solar cells and infrared efficient Si solar cells for perovskite/Si tandem cell and module integrations, as well as advanced characterisations for tandem cells, modules and related materials.

Michelle is an electrical engineer with over 20 years of experience in research and development; from solar cell technology through to early commercial applications and product development for energy storage to support electricity network infrastructure. In her current role as manager of New Technology for Energy Queensland, her work has her regularly working with technology start-ups and innovators in Australia and beyond.

Her career of over 30 years has been focussed on renewable energy and energy storage applications through research, commercial industry and government. She has been actively involved in the development of Australian Standards for renewable technologies and more broadly in supporting the safety and quality of the industries that rely on this technology, through roles with the Queensland Electrical Safety Office and the New Energy Technology Customer Code.

Dr Dore is a renewable energy specialist with two decades of experience in industry and academia. He has previously worked in PV manufacturing and R&D in Australia and in Germany with BP Solar, Pacific Solar, CSG Solar and Suntech R&D Australia. Dr Dore received his PhD from UNSW, with his work in thin-film solar processing honoured with awards from UNSW, the AIS, the IEEE and the AIP. He has participated in many collaborative research programs funded by Australian and international agencies.

As Head of Product Innovation at Solar Analytics, Dr Dore helped increase visibility of rooftop PV performance and grid impacts for owners, fleet managers and the wider industry. Now at Ausgrid, he is helping to integrate solar, storage and flexible loads and harness the opportunities for new services within a clean energy system.

Professor Bach is a full professor at Monash University and the Monash Node Leader of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science. He received his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, Switzerland) working in the research group of Prof Michael Grätzel and worked for 3 years in a technology start- up company in Dublin (Ireland). Subsequently he spent 15 months as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Paul Alivisatos in UC Berkeley (USA) before moving to Monash University in November 2005 to establish his own research group. Professor Bach has a strong background in the area of photovoltaics and nanofabrication. He is involved in fundamental and applied research in the area of perovskite solar cells with an interest in novel device architectures (back-contact solar cells), novel materials (lead-free perovskites) and high-throughput screening.

Dr van Embden received his PhD in Chemistry from The University of Melbourne. He is a Materials Chemist specializing in nanotechnology, semiconductor optoelectronic properties, and solar cell devices.

Dr van Embden has worked in both the academic sector and at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). His expertise has been gathered over nearly 20 years working on semiconductor materials and thin film devices. He has given seminars around the world, won competitive funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), and published numerous academic papers in the field. He currently heads his own research group investigating thin film materials for optoelectronic devices and renewable energy technologies.

Dr Lasich has 35 years in the ‘mainstream’ and ‘renewable’ energy sectors including 10 years in the petrochemical, manufacturing and power industries before entering the solar industry. He has held senior technical positions over 25 years creating new solar technology and winning several Engineering Excellence awards. His experience also includes automation, design, construction, and operation of significant energy projects in Australia and internationally.

John holds a PhD degree in solar energy. As a pioneer in the technology, he has been awarded many patents and been an invited speaker at international conferences, publishing several ‘World Firsts’ including the world record solar-electricity conversion efficiency in collaboration with UNSW. John is a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards committee. He received the Distinguished Alumnus award from Victoria University for his contribution to the solar industry and accepted the Governors’ ‘Export Innovation’ award for ground-breaking exports.

John founded RayGen in 2010 to develop and commercialise his vision for high efficiency dispatchable solar power products for utility scale applications.

Paul is an engineer with 20 years of experience in the delivery of innovative solutions to the complex challenges of remote area infrastructure development and the provision of energy services.

During these 20 years Paul has been directly involved in the assessment, design, procurement, project management, deployment, testing, commissioning and ongoing operation and maintenance of off grid and on grid renewable based power systems, both in Australia and internationally. Through this experience he has developed a good understanding of why these various technologies or the systems they support have met with success or failure when applied to a real-world setting.

Professor Wilson is the Research Group Leader for Solar Technologies in CSIRO Energy and Senior Principal Research Scientist for Next Generation Photovoltaics. With more than 22 years of experience in research and development, he established one of the first humidity controlled, solution processed PV fabrication facilities in Australia at the CSIRO Photovoltaics Research Laboratory.

He is a respected and internationally recognised authority in the development of solution processed thin-film photovoltaics and mesoscopic solar cells including the thin-film and tandem perovskite-silicon photovoltaics and dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC) and holds pioneer patents in perovskite optoelectronics for processes covering single-junction and multi-junction architectures.

Through his research contributions he has been recognised as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy and Fellow Chartered Chemist of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

Prof. Wilson has been highly awarded for his contributions to science and technology development from CSIRO Office of the Chief Executive, QUT Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland Government Smart State Awards and is a Conjoint Professor at University of Newcastle.

Professor Wilson leads the day-to-day operational and capability management of the CSIRO Solar Technologies Group with a portfolio of more than 30 projects. Solar Technologies is the largest solar research effort within CSIRO consisting of over 45 group members / 31 full-time engineers and scientists bringing together a multi disciplinary research group of mechanical and software engineers, optical and device physicists, material and physical chemists, chemical process and electrical engineers. He leads CSIRO’s Solar portfolio with technical leadership including emerging thin-film and tandem cell photovoltaics development, commercial silicon cell and module durability and performance assessment, large-scale concentrated solar thermal (CST) central receiver test-bed facilities, next generation high-temp CST technologies and emerging applications of CST to industrial heat and renewable fuels production.

Olivia has over 20 years of experience working in Australia and internationally at the intersection of energy markets, finance, law and innovation. Her principal interests lie in financing renewable energy projects through the value chain from R&D through to commercial deployment, advising governments on energy market law, policy and regulatory reform, and financial innovation to maximise the impact of climate finance for energy projects in emerging markets.

A Fulbright Scholar and U.S. Department of State Climate Change Fellow, Olivia is currently Head, Energy Finance & Clean Cooking at the international organisation Sustainable Energy for All.

Previous roles include Director, Sustainable Finance at REEEP, Investment Director of the Australian Solar Institute and 12 years as a lawyer advising on project finance, structured trade and political risk insurance transactions with Baker McKenzie, Latham & Watkins, and in-house at Export Finance Australia. Current non-executive roles include Australia’s Alternate Representative on the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme and Member of the World Economic Forum’s Taskforce on Mobilizing Investment for Clean Energy in Emerging Economies.