Australia is entering the decade where the energy transition shifts from ambition to execution. The pipeline is massive—but delivery is under pressure from approvals, community expectations, capital scrutiny and the realities of building at scale.

This opening address reframes sustainability as a delivery discipline, not a bolt-on. The Chair will highlight where projects lose time, trust and capital—and define what “buildable and defensible” looks like, so the sector can deliver faster, with fewer disputes and stronger outcomes.

• What “good” looks like: Measurable sustainability outcomes that support delivery, approvals and asset performance
• Where projects unravel? Unclear requirements, weak evidence, late assurance and interface gaps
• What needs to be locked early? Standards, metrics, procurement choices and accountabilities
• The shared priorities to lift certainty: Common language, transparent reporting and lifecycle assurance

Toby Kent, CEO, Infrastructure Sustainability Council

As Australia ramps up renewable energy delivery, it is taking on a complex construction program across multiple regions and technologies at once. Scale does not create delivery problems, it amplifies them. In this keynote, DT Infrastructure will share a contractor’s view of what makes projects truly buildable and which decisions must be made earlier to reduce disruption, risk premiums and productivity loss.

• Where renewable projects typically lose momentum before construction ramps up
• How earlier contractor involvement can improve mobilisation, productivity and commissioning outcomes
• How to move from one-off project delivery to repeatable program delivery across regions
• What owners, developers and contractors must standardise to protect productivity, bankability and schedule certainty

Tom Perkin, GM Strategy, DT Infrastructure

This leaders panel brings together senior decision-makers to share what they’re changing now to unlock delivery – reducing connection and interface risk, securing land earlier, reshaping contracts to avoid defensive pricing, and lifting productivity without compromising safety or quality.

No broad commentary, just clear calls on what’s slowing projects, what’s working on the ground, and what must change to turn announced capacity into delivered megawatts.

• Connection and interfaces: Preventing connection risk and handover disputes becoming the critical path
• Land access and approvals: Locking the “right” groundwork early to avoid redesign loops and delay-driven re-pricing
• Contracting and risk: Sharing risk in a way that keeps projects financeable without inflating prices
• Productivity and safety at scale: Lifting output on site without compromising safety, quality or workforce sustainability

Panelists include

Gordon Taylor, Executive General Manager – Major Projects , Transgrid

Maria Vazquez, Head of Engineering, Engie

Tom Perkin, GM Strategy, DT Infrastructure

Daniel Sartor, Head of Major Projects, Ausgrid

Facilitated by

Simon Currie, Co-Founder & Chief Projects Officer, Energy Estate

Join owners, networks, EPCs, OEMs and delivery leaders for practical, small-group discussions on the issues slowing renewable projects in Australia. Attendees will take part in two 30-minute roundtables, each led by an experienced industry practitioner and focused on reducing delay, rework and disputes.

• Each table is capped to support open discussion
• Topics will be shared in advance to help attendees choose the most relevant sessions
• A 5-minute changeover is provided between roundtables

Choose the discussions most relevant to your role and priorities, and dive into what is working, what is not, and what needs to change.

Round Table 1: Building Infrastructure Within a Relationship: Land Access, Community Engagement and Keeping Projects Moving

Explore how stronger relationships with landholders, communities and Traditional Owners can help reduce friction and keep renewable energy projects moving. Discuss why projects stall, what changes when engagement starts earlier, and how genuine stakeholder relationships can support smoother approvals, stronger social licence and better long-term outcomes.

Host: Lani Johns, Director – Growth, Indigenous Energy Australia

Round Table 2: Curtailment to Compute: Converting Stranded Renewable Energy into AI Infrastructure Revenue

Australia’s growing curtailment problem is pushing renewable developers to explore new ways to monetise stranded generation. This roundtable examines whether AI compute co-location can create a durable revenue stream, covering how these models work, where demand is emerging and what developers need to assess before determining the right technical and commercial approach for their portfolio.

Host: Jonathan Staff, Executive Director, WinDC

Round Table 3: From Design to Delivery: Creating a Single Source of Truth Across Renewable Projects

Explore how connected data and shared digital workflows can align design, engineering and construction teams, reduce rework, improve decision-making and create greater certainty throughout renewable energy project delivery at scale.

Host: Pete GilMurray, Construction Specialist, Autodesk

Round Table 4: Contracting and risk allocation in renewable energy construction

How much risk is too much? Join industry leaders to discuss contracting strategies that improve delivery certainty, support investment confidence, and allocate risk where it can be best managed, without driving cost escalation or undermining project outcomes. Bring your experiences, challenge conventional thinking, and help shape a more balanced approach to risk allocation that delivers better outcomes for the entire project ecosystem.

Host: Jack Shelley, State Director, WT

Round Table 5: Reducing delivery risk before construction begins

Many of the risks that affect project delivery emerge long before construction starts. This roundtable will explore how early engagement, landholder-led planning and alignment between landholders and project teams can reduce delays, strengthen social licence and create greater certainty for developers, EPCs, financiers and delivery partners.

Host: Michael Katz, CEO, RELA

Round Table 6: From reactive reporting to real-time safety management on renewable construction sites

This roundtable will explore how safety was managed before and after the introduction of a more connected, digital approach. Discuss the limitations of fragmented processes, delayed reporting and limited site visibility, what changed during implementation, and how better information is helping project teams identify risks earlier, improve accountability and strengthen safety performance across complex renewable construction sites.

Host: Ryan Joseph, Head of Sales – ANZ, HammerTech

Round Table 7: De-risking decision latency: Using digital twins to keep renewable energy projects moving

Explore how digital twins can bring together network, route, capacity and project data within a shared, accessible view. Discuss the cost of relying on fragmented or outdated information, where functionality can fall short of expectations, and whether a clearer live picture can help teams identify risks earlier and make faster, better-informed decisions from bid through to delivery.

Host: Amber Standley, Co-Founder & CXO, Terria

Lani Johns, Director Growth, Indigenous Energy Australia

Jonathan Staff, Executive Director, WinDC

Jack Shelley, State Director, WT

Michael Katz, CEO, RELA

Pete GilMurray, Construction Specialist, Autodesk

Amber Standley, Co-Founder & CXO, Terria

As Australia’s energy transition shifts from policy to delivery, outcomes are now shaped as much by capital, supply chains and geopolitics as by engineering.

In this session, Tim Buckley translates global market forces into practical implications for developers, EPCs, OEMs, contractors and networks. Drawing on Climate Energy Finance research, he’ll cut through what’s changing in costs, procurement and supply chains – and what it means for timelines, risk and construction readiness across wind, solar, batteries and transmission.

The focus: decisions teams can make earlier to improve cost certainty and reduce delivery risk.

• How cost of capital and contracting structures are influencing which projects reach FID, and when
• What supply chain concentration and manufacturing trends, including China, mean for lead times, pricing and technology choices
• The implications of technology improvement curves for modules, inverters, batteries, charging and grid equipment procurement strategies
• How geopolitical and trade settings in the Australia and the greater Asian region are affecting investment, exports and industrial load growth

Tim Buckley, Director, Climate Energy Finance

As Australia’s energy system comes under increasing strain, access to power is becoming a major constraint for data centre growth. At the same time, renewable generation is being curtailed because grid capacity cannot connect it to demand. This presentation explores what happens when compute moves to available energy. Drawing on more than a decade in renewables and experience securing over 6 gigawatts across the National Electricity Market, Andrew Sjoquist examines data centres as flexible, energy-aligned infrastructure and the implications for where and how they are built. He also considers how Australia could turn grid constraints into a competitive advantage.

• Why curtailed generation is the defining constraint that AI compute can solve — and the revenue opportunity this creates for renewable developers and asset owners in constrained grid zones
• How modular data centres are deployed at renewable sites: construction model, approximately 90-day commissioning timeline, and the infrastructure requirements that make co-location viable
• What the shift to generation-adjacent compute means for developers, EPCs and contractors already building or planning projects where grid capacity is limited
• How Australia’s renewable resource positions the construction sector to lead the next generation of AI infrastructure — and what needs to happen now to capture that position

Andrew Sjoquist, Founder & CEO, WinDC

Grid connection is now one of the biggest delivery risks—driven as much by coordination and accountability as by engineering.

This panel is a practical reality check on why connections drag, where time is lost, and what teams must do earlier to reduce rework, disputes and commissioning delays. The goal: a clear, shared view of what “connection-ready” actually looks like.

• Why do connections take so long? Unpacking the biggest causes of delay and uncertainty in the connection process
• Getting the basics right early: Data, modelling, testing scope and documentation that prevent rework later
• Clear responsibilities and handovers: Who owns what through design, construction, testing and commissioning
• Preventing late changes becoming disputes: Change control and “definition of done” that keeps projects moving

Panelists include

Alex Crosby, MD, Multiworks

Charbel Antoun, Head of Grid Connections & Engineering, Spark Renewables

Tilman Thrum, Market Leader Energy & Power, Stantec

Land access and approvals remain where projects slip, costs rise and redesigns start.

This panel cuts to what’s actually slowing progress, where teams get caught out, and what leading proponents and contractors do differently to keep agreements, approvals and cultural heritage moving – without rework.

The focus: early decisions and disciplines that reduce risk before construction ramps up.

• How leading teams secure land access and landholder agreements faster, and the recurring issues that trigger avoidable delays
• Approvals sequencing in practice: how to plan planning, environment and stakeholder pathways so they support delivery rather than forcing redesign
• Cultural heritage and First Nations engagement: how teams avoid late surprises that impact route, design, program and cost
• Practical mechanisms that support participation and stronger outcomes on projects, including Indigenous Holdco Loans as one relevant tool in the wider land access and approvals picture

Panelists include

John Carr, Project CEO - Capricornia Pumped Hydro, CIP

Nicola Pero, Executive Board Director, Iberdrola Australia

Kath Elliott, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Community Relations, Squadron Energy

Louise Baring, Head of Community, Stakeholder & Communications, TasNetworks

Moderated by:

Margaret Harvie, Chairperson - New England REZ Community Reference Groups, PlanCom Consulting

When uncertainty rises, so does price—not from greed, but risk being priced in.

This panel cuts to the real drivers of defensive pricing in renewables: unclear connection pathways, shifting approvals, scope changes and supply chain volatility. The focus is practical—how to allocate risk, structure change control and keep projects financeable without turning contracts into claim battles.

• Where projects get risk allocation wrong: common disconnects between commercial strategy, delivery realities and investor expectations, and how early challenge and independent scrutiny can improve certainty, bankability and value for money.
• The biggest drivers of defensive pricing right now: Connection risk, approvals risk, geotech uncertainty and supply chain volatility
• What fair risk-sharing looks like in practice: How owners and contractors are structuring responsibility without killing bankability
• Change control that works: How to handle late changes without constant claims, re-pricing and delays
• What lenders and insurers need to see: The contract signals that give capital confidence while keeping delivery realistic

Panelists include

Nik Trajkovski, Commercial Director - Western Renewable Link, Acciona Infrastructure

Sally Torgoman, CEO, Ascera Energy

Jack Shelley, State Director, WT

Pedram Danesh-Mand, Executive Director – Head of Project Controls & PMO, KPMG

Projects slow down when the workforce isn’t there, critical equipment arrives late, quality issues cause rework, or safety risks force work to stop. This panel focuses on the practical realities of delivering renewables in Australia right now, what’s constraining progress on site, and what is genuinely working to keep projects moving day-to-day while maintaining safe delivery.

• Workforce capability and shortages: HV, electrical, civils and commissioning — what’s working to build and retain capacity
• Supply chain and long-lead items: transformers, switchgear, cables, BESS components, reducing delays and quality issues
• Site productivity: the practical changes that lift output (sequencing, standardisation, clearer interfaces and planning)
• Safety at scale: HV risk, remote sites, fatigue/mental health, and battery safety during construction

Panelists include

Dave Evans, Chief Delivery Officer - Snowy 2.0, Snowy Hydro

Catherine Gale, Head of Health, Safety & Sustainability, Beon Energy Solutions

Matt Lennon, General Manager - QLD/SA, DT Infrastructure

Steven Hall, General Manager VET & Technical, Powering Skills Organisation

Moderated by

Robert Sobyra, Executive Director, BuildSkills Australia