Australia’s Energy Transition: Balancing Competing Demands and Consumer Roles

“This book offers lessons for global energy managers, and recommends policy options for the customer role in the energy transition. This is one of the more difficult processes in the transition and the discussion here is clear, relevant and urgent!”
— Professor Iven Mareels, The University of Melbourne

“In this excellent book, Dr Glen Currie, a leading expert in energy argues in favour of policy that includes customer behaviour in the system planning. He reminds us of the increasing complexity in managing electricity systems globally, and shares lessons from Australia. This book argues for energy planning to incorporate a broader set of stakeholders and to allow more innovation to counter complexity. It is likely that there are pertinent lessons herein for electricity planners internationally.”

— Professor Abbas Rajabifard, The University of Melbourne

This book studies Australia, a country characterized by the highest concentration of domestic photovoltaic systems. In addition, the high level of solar energy that Australia receives makes these systems a significant part of its energy mix. International electricity system managers take note; your systems are heading this way. The energy transition is an emerging field, and few texts have been published that can help energy planners as this book does. The research presented is sociotechnical in nature, and reveals that the main challenge in the energy transition is its emerging social role. Very few works combine the social and technical fields of energy. Given its scope, the book will appeal to readers interested in policy, regulation, and energy systems, including government employees involved in energy system management all around the world.

Dr. Glen Currie is a Victoria-based manager with experience in 44 countries. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy and active in the energy industry from electricity generation to retail, including the commercialization of innovative technologies. He has over 20 years’ experience in strategic planning and guiding the transformations of companies. At Caterpillar, Glen was a Senior Consultant in the Service Department technology program for dealers in Europe, Asia, and Australia. He subsequently led business for CSIRO Energy, became passionate about the energy transition, and ran a number of spin-off companies before entering academia.