Clean Energy Council

“I wrote the book because I want to tell a real wart-and-all version of my story, of how we did enjoy business success, but it came with tremendous personal sacrifice. It’s hard to trying to be changemakers,” says Andy McCarthy, Chief Strategy Officer at CEP.Energy and winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Clean Energy Award🏆 A pioneer of Australia’s solar industry, Andy built a successful solar business in the heart of coal country, proving that renewables can take root anywhere with the right vision and leadership. Throughout his career, he’s championed a sector grounded in quality, care for customers and support for the people behind the transition. By openly sharing his personal journey and challenges, Andy has helped elevate the importance of mental health across the industry and the wider community. This award recognises Andy’s lasting contribution to clean energy in Australia and a legacy that continues to inspire. 🔗 Find out more about the Clean Energy Council Awards 2025 winners: https://lnkd.in/ewZW-YSe #cleanenergy #awards #leadership #solar

Ahead of stepping down from his role as Chief Executive today, Kane Thornton spoke with ABC’s The Business this week to discuss the current state of the energy transition and future challenges and opportunities. Thank you Kane for 15 impactful years of advocating for the clean energy sector. In that time, despite the many debates and distractions, the total share of renewables in the grid has grown from 9% to now more than 40%. Watch the interview here: https://lnkd.in/gqgy6bZ7

The Chloe Munro Scholarship for Transformational Leadership returns in 2025. Emerging and mid-level women leaders within Clean Energy Council member organisations can apply for fully funded leadership courses delivered by Women and Leadership Australia: ✨ Executive Ready – for mid-level leaders with three or more years of experience ✨ Leading Edge – for early-career managers with at least 12 months of industry experience First Nations women are strongly encouraged to apply. This is a fully funded scholarship, thanks to the generous support of Chloe Munro Scholarship tier 1 program partners Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and Hydro Tasmania, and tier 2 program partners Iberdrola Australia, GreenCollar, Tilt Renewables andAkaysha Energyy. Applications close Monday 25 August. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this transformative program, apply now: https://lnkd.in/gUb693zF Know someone who’d be interested? Be sure to share with them. #ChloeMunroScholarship #womenincleanenergy #cleanenergy #renewableenergy

“The initiative involves 12 developers and transmission businesses working hand in hand with Wimmera Southern Mallee Development to deliver real benefits for local communities,” says Marteena McKenzie, Community Engagement Manager at BayWa r.e. APAC. 🏆 Winner of the Collaboration Award, the Wimmera Southern Mallee Development Energy Collaboration brings together government, industry and local leaders to take shared action on regional priorities. Led by Wimmera Southern Mallee Development and supported by The Energy Charter, the group has formalised shared commitments and launched joint projects focused on fire planning, youth employment pathways and long-term collaboration across the sector. It’s a grounded and evolving partnership that’s already changing how people show up and act together. 👉 Find out more about the winners of the Clean Energy Council awards 2025 here: https://lnkd.in/ewZW-YSe #cleanenergy #awards #collaboration #cleanenergyworksforAus

As Australia's retiring coal-fired power stations become more unreliable, the federal government is ramping up efforts to build more wind, solar and battery projects - and fast. We welcome this week’s announcement by Minister for Climate and Energy, Chris Bowen, on a major expansion of the Capacity Investment Scheme, which will add 8 gigawatts of clean energy projects on top of the 32 GW already planned. With Australia’s fleet of increasingly unreliable coal-fired plants set to retire by 2038, it’s essential the roll-out of renewable energy, which now supplies more than 40 per cent of the grid, continues at pace. “Our ageing coal-fired power stations are only becoming more expensive and more unreliable. We need new generation now,” said Bowen. “To rebuild Australia’s energy grid into the modern, reliable and fairer system we need, we’ve got to get renewables and storage online, faster.” This announcement comes off the back of CSIRO’s GenCost 2024-25 report , released on Tuesday, confirming that renewables, backed by storage, are still the cheapest form of electricity generation in Australia. 🌬️☀️ As the sunniest and windiest continent on earth, clean energy works for Australia. #cleanenergy #renewables #cleanenergyworksforAus

Clean energy projects succeed when local communities can participate and share in the benefits – this requires early, meaningful engagement. ☀️ "A sector like renewables in a community can create more flow on benefits. We have these opportunities to control our own power, share our own power and generate our own power, and I think there's some really great opportunities for regional communities in that," said Sally Hunter, founder of Geni.Energy Limited and Narrabri farmer. Sally’s story features in RE-Alliance's Renewables Done Right campaign, a great resource showcasing how communities can be part of the transition: https://lnkd.in/gT7UkzC2 We’ve also got two courses available to aimed at strengthening engagement: 🔹 Social license leading practice course (90 mins, free-of-charge) 🔗 https://lnkd.in/grWFXurr 🔹Leading practice: First Nations engagement course (180 mins, free before 31 August)) 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gEKdwmuN Both courses are self-guided and open to anyone working or studying in clean energy. 👉 Learn more and enrol!

And that’s a wrap! More than 160 speakers, 50 partners and exhibitors, over 1,600 delegates across 2 days and celebrating and farewelling a CEO of 15 years – this just might’ve been the biggest Australian Clean Energy Summit yet. A huge thank you to all of those who attended, to our valued sponsors and partners and, of course, our panellists and chairs for generously sharing experiences and knowledge; collaboration and information-sharing is what makes our industry tick and is crucial to a rapid transition. Special thanks to our Platinum Partners GE Vernova and EDF   See you in September at our next major event, the Queensland Clean Energy Summit featuring large-scale solar and storage. Find out more and register here: https://lnkd.in/gfK4x9BT and don’t miss All Energy Australia in October https://lnkd.in/gT3ehVm5 #ACES2025

The Clean Energy Council’s Anna Freeman kicked off day 2 of #ACES2025 leading a powerhouse panel focused on capturing new market opportunities in the shift to net zero. bp Australia’s Lucy Nation said, to succeed, there needs to be a lot more collaboration. “It’s not something one company can do alone, it’s about having a shared objective so we can increase the pace of progress.” Fortescue’s Dino Otranto echoed that sentiment saying, “the industry we will create for the long term, will supersize Australia’s national interest and economy. There is no one silver bullet on this, we all need to work on team Australia and align on a long-term vision and get on with it.” Our incoming Chief Policy and Impact Officer, William Churchill, was joined on a leader’s panel by Origin Energy’s Frank Calabria, Hydro Tasmania’s Rachel Watson, and EnergyAustralia’s Mark Collette in a discussion focused on the critical role retailers are playing in the clean energy transition. Discussion centred around the importance of stable settings in providing certainty for investment with Mark Collette saying, “more predictability and longer time planning horizons, will enable the stability that gives customers more trust in the sector.” Frank Calabria echoed the importance of policy certainty, saying “Shifts in policy are not academic. If you’re asking us to invest in 20 year assets, we need to have the confidence that someone is not going to change the rules the day after we make a decision. Rachel Watson highlighted the criticality of signals such as yesterday’s expansion of the Capacity Investment Scheme, “Yesterday’s announcement and that sort of long- term scheme provides stability and certainty; we know how important these sorts of schemes are to the transition from the times we haven’t had these available to us in Australia.” It’s been another cracking start to day two of the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney and there’s still much more to come with sessions on large-scale storage, cybersecurity, offshore wind, First Nations participation, environmental impact assessment, network planning, the Brady review, dunkelflautes, solar ducks and more! Share your impressions and takeaways using #ACES2025

Heartfelt congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Clean Energy Council Awards, honoured last night at the Australian Clean Energy Summit Gala Dinner, drawn from a very competitive field. These prestigious awards recognise excellence and leadership, celebrating contributions that drive Australia’s clean energy future. 🏆 Outstanding Contribution to Clean Energy Award: Andy McCarthy for pioneering Australia’s solar industry, building a successful solar business focused on quality installations and customer care and raising the importance of mental health across the sector. 🏆 Collaboration Award: Wimmera Southern Mallee Development Energy Collaboration – bringing together the energy sector, government and local leaders to drive the energy transition in western Victoria. 🏆 Community Value and Impact Award: Girgarre Solar Farm, Potentia Energy – partnering with the Girgarre community in Victoria to deliver a solar farm supporting revitalisation and economic growth. 🏆 Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Award: Blackrock Industries, Fluence and AGL – creating hope and jobs for previously incarcerated First Nations men, transforming lives through work on the Lidell Battery Energy Storage project in NSW. 🏆 First Nations Engagement and Participation Award: First Nations Bailai, Gurang, Gooreng Gooreng, Taribelang Bunda People Development Corporation Ltd and European Energy Australia – a co-designed partnership focused on embedding cultural values, leadership and self-determination at the Aldoga Wind Farm in QLD. 🏆 Media Award: Caitlin Fitzsimmons, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age – for a series of feature stories focused on debunking myths and addressing common issues about Australia’s energy transition. To our record number of nominees, to our finalists and award winners, thank you for your commitment and impact. Your work is powering real and invaluable progress. See the list of winners and finalists, and learn about their achievements: https://lnkd.in/ewZW-YSe #CECAwards #cleanenergycouncilawards #CECAwards2025 #ACES2025 #GalaDinner

What an afternoon on day one of the Australian Clean Energy Summit ⚡💡🤝 so many highlights:   👩💼👷♀️ A sold-out Women in Renewables Lunch, supported by KPMG Australia, celebrated 10 years of inspiring and empowering women in the industry. A compelling panel on AI and authenticity, chaired by Ashleigh Dalmau with insights from Kathy Bremner of Tilt Renewables and Jackie Brown of GE Vernova explored everything from AI bias, leadership, and the human side of tech. “Adoption of AI isn't a technical question, it’s a people question.”    💪 Today’s leadership panels tackled, among other things, global instability and its impact on Australia’s energy transition.   On the Developing the future generation portfolio panel, chaired by Palisade Investment's Karen Gould, Clean Energy Council Board Chair Ross Rolfe said “international disruption isn’t interrupting our stride here in Australia” with Squadron Energy’s Rob Wheals adding, “there is some really good progress being made and now is not the time to be distracted by what is happening externally.”   While on the Navigating the global power shift in the energy transition panel, the Climate Change Authority's The Hon. Matt Kean encouraged industry to look through the noise of political stunts and distracting “side shows”. When asked about what a new renewable energy target might bring, Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC)’s Anna Collyer said “the value of the target, especially a stretch target, is a great driver to think about what we need to do differently to achieve better outcomes including drawing on tech and being even more innovative.”   🧠 Innovation and community support were key themes, with calls for more transparent engagement and a national benefits framework. As Sinead Taylor of Commonwealth Bank put it: “It will take a nation to transition.”   Dozens of sessions also covered finance, batteries, data centres, project approvals, taxpayer value, and more.   Next up: the Gala Dinner supported by NAB and hosted by Annabel Crabb, where we’ll announce the 2025 Clean Energy Council Awards. Good luck to all of our finalists! #ACES2025 #cleanenergy