Last week I attended the Australian Summer Study on Energy Productivity in Sydney. This conference provided a forum for energy specialists in government, industry and research sectors to come together to talk about increasing the efficiency of the Australian energy system. While there was, of course, a focus on energy efficiency, there was also significant time spent on discussing the appropriate integration of distributed generation sources, like domestic solar panels.
I presented my own research on the way community members can be instrumental in promoting adoption of domestic solar energy. My presentation fit well within a stream that considered different ways to look at solar - from international market strategies, to grid connection, to alternative modes to promote adoption.
The conference was a fantastic opportunity to meet some new people in the energy industry and put faces to some (more famous) names. There were a number of ideas, particularly around where responsibility lies for ensuring cost-effective access to networks, that will be useful when drafting my final paper, which looks at the interaction between people and utilities.
You can find a brief reflection on the conference at my blog.
Thanks to the UWA Postgraduate Students' Association for awarding me with a grant to allow me to attend the conference.