Australia Awards Short Courses: Demonstrating the cutting edge of energy transition
Catalysing energy decarbonisation in Laos
Julian Chin Chief Coordinating Officer Mekong Eight Group Ltd.
Australia’s universities are showcasing Australian climate change expertise through Australia Awards Short Courses that aim to assist with transitioning the electricity grid to renewable energy. There is strong desire from international students to learn from Australia’s experience. Students undertaking these courses can see first-hand the transition taking place in Australia and meet the companies and technology innovators who are leading this work. Australian universities take the opportunity to highlight innovative technologies being developed by Australian firms or deployed in Australia by foreign investors. These include firms like NOJA Power, which exports equipment to 105 countries, and Power Ledger which uses blockchain technology to track, trade and trace every kilowatt hour of energy. Foreign Investors like Neoen, the developer of the original “Big Battery”, the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, say that Australia is at the cutting edge of the energy transition. What they learn here is deployed globally. Since mid-2021, more than 260 students from Africa, Asia, South America and the Pacific have studied an Australia Awards Climate Change Short Course in Grid Integration of Renewable Energy at the Australian National University. These short courses have now expanded to cover a wide range of climate change topics from adaptation and resilience through to disaster risk reduction and sustainable mining. The number of institutions delivering the courses has grown too, and now includes Curtin University, Griffith University and the University of Queensland.
Julian Chin is principal coordinator of the Mekong Eight Group and participant in the ANU short course. Mekong Eight has been supporting development partners in Laos since 2013, and actively advises the Lao Government on matters pertaining to the energy transition. The group acts as the conduit for funnelling global best practices in engineering, design and project management into the Lao developmental sector.
Australian academia and government institutions have long been collaborating through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to address the climate change needs in ASEAN. Home to eight per cent of the world’s population (680 million), the ASEAN bloc is on course for a surge in energy demand. To this end, DFAT has been actively driving a number of peer2peer forums aimed at catalysing energy decarbonisation - through enabling greater renewables adoption into the power systems of the region. In October 2022, DFAT arranged for a series of short courses on climate change held in Vientiane , Laos. Led by the Australian National University (ANU), with support from energy related government institutes, the courses were designed to support ASEAN governments and regulators bolster the human capital required to address the long-term evolution of the regional energy grid.
Laos is highly strategic to the evolution of energy in ASEAN. Positioning itself as the “Battery of Asia” on account of its unparalleled hydropower resources, the landlocked nation successfully executed the first transboundary energy trade in ASEAN (2018-2021), despatching 300 megawatts of renewable energy into Singapore via cross-border interconnections through Thailand and Malaysia. However, as Laos’ energy mix remains heavily weighted on hydropower, the Government of the day is actively pursuing solar and wind resources to be developed in situ. After decades of regulatory reform, the energy landscape in Laos and greater Indochina is poised for an explosion of development in renewable energy generators, transmission and distribution infrastructure. There is substantial opportunity for deployment of ancillary services required of highly networked energy system. Australia and the innovations from its private sector are superbly positioned to work with ASEAN on this new paradigm of energy interconnectivity.
DFAT’s Vientiane post supporting energy initiatives The Australia Awards short course attended by Julian Chin in Laos was funded through the Partnership for Infrastructure (P4I) program, delivered by ANU. This activity is part of Australian Government support to Laos to build the capacity of government officials and the private sector to accelerate the energy transition. The Australian Embassy, in collaboration with ANU’s P4I team, has led the new energy cooperation, Laos-Australia Sustainable Energy Partnership (LASEP), to support the Lao Government’s energy priorities, including stability, reliability and profitability, and Laos’ economic development.
Examples of Australian cutting-edge innovation: The Australian Capital Territory has achieved 100 per cent renewable electricity. South Australia is the first jurisdiction in the world to average 70 per cent wind and solar PV, while achieving 100 per cent wind and 100 per cent solar at different times. Tasmania is 100 per cent self-sufficient in renewable electricity and was the first Australian jurisdiction to achieve net zero emissions. The Northern Territory will host one of the world’s biggest solar farms with the proposed 20-gigawatt solar farm near Tennant Creek and an 800 kilometre overhead transmission line to Darwin.
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business envoy
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
business envoy
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