Speakers

Sandra James

Bringing consumers along the energy transition journey

Sandra is as a Partner with Deloitte Access Economics' Energy and Climate Advisory team and leads its Regulatory practice nationally. She is a trusted advisor to utilities and has worked in the sector for over 24 years. Sandra is known for her strong understanding of the commercial, stakeholder and operational impacts for the market and industry participants and consumers of policy and regulatory change, and for supporting constructive dialogue between government, industry, regulators, and market institutions on the development of policy, regulation and market reforms.

Sandra excels at supporting her clients develop a clear narrative for engagement and buy-in, supported by a practical path for solution delivery.

Prof Bernadette McCabe

Australia's biogas potential

Bernadette a Director at the University of Southern Queensland's (USQ) Centre for Agricultural Engineering (CAE) and is the Research Program Team leader for Energy and Bioresource Recycling. She collaborates at an international level as Australia's National Team Leader for the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy program Task 37: Energy from Biogas. Bernadette was a Director on the Board of Bioenergy Australia from 2017-2019 and is an active member of the Bioenergy Australia Renewable Gas Alliance and Circular Economy Committee. Bernadette sits on the Queensland Government's Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, Biofutures Industry Advisory Group. She is also a member of the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (CoE).

She has a background in agricultural biotechnology and has over 25 years' experience as an academic and researcher. Her research investigates technologies to enable intensive Australian farming and food-processing industries to turn their commercial waste into a valuable commodity. She works with these industries to be more profitable by using organic waste to produce biogas, clean recycled water and biofertiliser. Her research has been applied to the livestock and cropping sectors (both on and off farm) and water utilities.

Alisa Toomey

Reforms to facilitate stand-alone power systems

Alisa joined Australian Energy Market Commission in 2018 and is the Acting Director in Transmission and Distribution Networks. She has more than 15 years' experience in the energy sector in policy and regulatory roles in the retail and distribution space. Alisa's projects at the AEMC have included reviews and rule changes in transmission planning and investment, metering services, stand-alone power systems, embedded networks, life support and customer reliability.