For the first time since 2019, All-Energy Australia opened its doors to the national and international clean energy industry, kicking off the largest All-Energy Australia conference. The 2022 event was the largest ever held with more registrations, exhibitors and speakers than ever before.
300 exhibitors packed the impressive Expo floor, showcasing the latest cleantech innovations. Over 200 speakers spoke at panels and presentations over the two days, giving visitors to the show a plethora of information gathering opportunities, as well as the chance to get one on one and hands on with leading cleantech companies.
It also gave the industry a chance to finally get back together to network and share ideas at such a crucial time for the sector.
Starting with an opening presentation from Victorian Minister for the Environment & Climate Action, Energy and Solar Homes, Lily D’Ambrosio recognising the recent climatic events saying, “Climate change is having its impact. The earth is telling us it is under great stress”.
With the visible effects of climate change too obvious to ignore, along with increasingly stretch targets to reach net zero, never has there been a greater focus and opportunity for the clean energy industry, with Ms D’Ambrosio referencing those targets saying, “They are ambitious, but do-able”.
The Victorian Government has stated that it plans to have 95 per cent of energy generated by renewables by 2035.
Panel discussions about First Nations Energy and working with Indigenous communities, the challenges faced with our existing grid and potential solutions, protecting biodiversity around large scale PV installations, local councils and creating useful partnerships, renewable energy zones (REZ’s), rural communities and micro-grids, EV’s and the exciting new Labour targets and much more. The sessions were informative and thought-provoking.
One of the clear themes was ‘collaboration’ – the need for the whole industry to work together to be able to achieve the climate action goals and with thousands of conversations happening across the Expo floor and around the event, All-Energy Australia provided the platform for relationships to be formed and problems to be solved.
Collaboration was also front and centre in most of the panel sessions, with panellists stating the importance of collaboration between State Governments, collaboration with communities, collaboration with the Indigenous communities and farming communities, collaboration with investors, suppliers, energy providers. The message was clear that we will all need to work together to achieve the targets set in place.
The other clear message was around ‘opportunity’ with the present government aligned to the clean energy vision for the country, banks and investors keen to be involved in all aspects of Australia’s transition to clean energy and Australia being well-placed to be a global leader in the clean energy sector, thanks to our resources, position in the world and world-leading innovations.
And the opportunity for people and jobs across the industry, with speakers calling out for Australia’s boldest and brightest to get involved with the clean energy industry to help fast track our transition to net zero. But also recognising that people and skills are going to be one of the major challenges with Michael Chan from Tas Networks saying during his plenary panel that it’s a “race for skills”.
The energy was buoyant both amongst the speakers, but also the exhibitors, with many expressing how nice it was to finally get back together after years apart and how critical it was for the industry to be able to be back together in one place. And with a bigger Expo floor than ever before, one exhibitor described All-Energy as the ‘Grand Final’ of energy events.
The passion and energy seen at the event bodes well for a great year ahead and an exciting future for everyone in the energy space.
See you in 2023!
Feature image courtesy of All-Energy Australia. Caption: #AllEnergyAU kicked off with the opening plenary session featuring speeches and panel discussions from Kane Thornton, Jason Venning, Dan Shugar, Morten Helveg Petersen and more!
