AWARDS | Australian Renewable Heat Conference

2025 conference program

The program for the 2025 conference will be released in coming months. Stay up-to-date with all announcements on speakers and the program by following the conference on LinkedIn.

2024 conference program

The agenda and content for the Australian Renewable Heat Conference has been designed to drive action on decarbonising industrial heat and to empower manufacturers and other end-users with the knowledge and tools they need to develop cost-effective projects and get them over the line.

Each day will start with keynote speakers addressing the broader challenges of decarbonising industrial heat, then we will present sessions divided into two main categories:

Technologies

Learn about the latest innovative renewable heat technologies being implemented and developed with real-world case studies and insights from other end-users.

Enablers

Hear from experts on how you can halve the levelised cost of heating for your renewable heat project via funding opportunities and measures such as thermal storage and flexible demand, along with advice on making your business case.

Day 1 - Wednesday 25 September

8:30 - 10:00 am

Session 1: Welcome to Country + The role of renewable heat to meet emission reduction targets

With around half industrial end-use energy used for heat, how can we accelerate the transition to renewable heat?

Session sponsor:

Session Chair

Uncle Allan
John Madden

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council

Kylie Hargreaves

Chair

Jennie Cassidy

Director, Industrial Energy Efficiency

Kim Curtain

Deputy Secretary

John O'Donnell

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

Peter Haenke

Investment Manager

10:00 - 10:30 am - MORNING TEA AND NETWORKING

10:30 - 12:00 pm

Session 2: Three actions to halve your levelised cost of heating

Citing examples from implemented projects, our speakers will detail how digitalisation, load-flexing and energy efficiency measures can help slash the capital expenditure and ongoing costs of your project and deliver a range of non-energy benefits.

Session sponsor:

Session Chair

Sage Michaels

Head of Partnerships

Assoc. Professor
Andrea Trianni

Deputy Head of School (Research) - Centre for Advanced Manufacturing

Satinder Sahni

Group Senior Manager - Utilities

Glenn Schultz

Strategic Sector Lead - Retail, Property and Manufacturing

12:00 - 1:00 pm - LUNCH AND NETWORKING

1:00 - 2:00 pm

Session 3: Electrification – here-and-now technologies to decarbonise

Hear the results of projects from Australia and New Zealand which have implemented technologies such as electrode boilers, heat pumps, mechanical vapour recompression and thermal batteries to enable the electrification of process heat.

Session Chair

Laura Taylor

Communications
Manager

Jan Hemmerich

General Manager - Australia

Eujin Tan

Energy Engineer

Paddy Mc Myler

Managing Director

Session sponsor:

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Session 4: Securing electrification support from networks and retailers

Essential for the success of renewable heat projects and for the clean energy transition as a whole will be partnerships and support from electricity networks and retailers. This session will explore the future of tariffs and how to collaborate with networks to fast-track connections and upgrade processes.

Session Chair

Dr Rowena
Cantley-Smith

Ian Askell

Senior Commercial
Specialist – Electrification

Felicity Wall

Microgrid Development Manager

Ross Milne

Asset Care Manager

Session sponsor:

3:00 - 3:30 pm - AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING

3:30 - 4:30 pm

Session 5: Integrating grants, incentives and R&D into your project to impress the CFO

Some of the greatest obstacles in the energy transition can be internal. Learn how to frame your project and take advantage of various grants, certificates, incentives and R&D partnerships to make the financial, emissions and non-energy benefits irresistible to the senior decision-makers in your organisation.

Session Chair

Jonathan Jutsen

Director

Jutsen Innovation

Dr Rebecca Barnes

National Grants Manager

Marguerite Collins

Principal - Partnerships and Innovation

Atta Ullah Sanai

Senior Project Officer

Session sponsor:

4:30 - 5:00 pm

Presentation of the Australian Renewable Heat Awards

Join us for the presentation of the inaugural Australian Renewable Heat Awards. The Awards recognise the innovative work out there which is leading the transition to renewable heat and setting the benchmarks for projects that follow. There are three project categories electrification (including heat pumps), biogas and biomass.

5:00 - 7:00 pm

Networking drinks and canapes

After a long day of information and inspiration, you can relax, mingle and make new connections in a room of energy and decarbonisation leaders as you enjoy a drink or two.

Sponsor:

Day 2 - Thursday 26 September

8:30 - 10:00 am

Session 6: The momentum towards renewable heat in Australia and around the world

Decarbonising industrial heat is a key challenge for all countries and markets. We will hear about how other countries are approaching this challenge and how Australia is tracking in comparison.

Session Chair

Jarrod Leak

Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan Pooch

Managing Director

Hugues Defreville

Co-founder & Present

Blaine Collison

Executive Director

Session sponsor:

10:00 - 10:30 am - MORNING TEA AND NETWORKING

10:30 - 12:00 pm

Session 7: Creating organisational alignment to accelerate decarbonisation projects: it's complicated!

An honest conversation with leaders from the Sustainability Advantage network about the grit, determination and key collaborations necessary to advance net zero ambitions, moderated by Sustainability Advantage.

Session Chair

Jo Cooper

Senior Project Officer

Justin Merrell

Group Sustainability
Director

Renata Wilkosz

Group Sustainability Manager

Scott Edwards

Sustainability Lead

Session sponsor:

12:00 - 1:00 pm - LUNCH AND NETWORKING

1:00 - 2:30 pm

Session 8: Success factors in implementing biogas projects and the near-term potential

With real-world projects as examples, the speakers in this session will highlight the advantages of different applications of biogas technologies, from direct usage, to precinct collaborations to network injection.

Session sponsor:

Samantha Lamond

Commercial Project
Development

Dr Rowena
Cantley-Smith

AGL-Energy360 Biogas by AGL ARHC Square.png

Martin Brownlee

Environmental Compliance Manager

Melissa Perrow

Group Manager - Energy

Steve Budden

Technical Director

2:30 - 3:00 pm - AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING

3:00 - 4:30 pm

Session 9: Success factors in implementing biomass projects and near-term market potential

Biomass boiler technology is a proven choice for renewable heating and adoption is increasing. In this session we explore the latest in project development, feedstocks availability, and lessons learned from recent projects.

Session sponsor: