Northern Regional Forum

Thursday, 24th August

Regional Sustainability and Resilience

2017

Time Topic & speaker

8.30am Registration

9.00am Opening Address & IntroductionMC, Simon Hickey

9:10am Welcome MessageChris Nielsen, Engineers Australia Queensland Division President

9.25am Water SecurityTom Vanderbyl, Water Task Force

9.55am Energy Network Reliability and Resilience (Trilemma) Charles Rattray, Energy Queensland

10.25am Disaster Response Coordination, Cyclone DebbieChris Herring, Department of Transport and Main Roads (Mackay District)

10.55am Morning Tea & Networking

11.25am Sustainability in Mining Rohan Lucas, Alluvium Consulting

11.55am Local Government Resilience David Murray, Dep. Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning

12.25pm TBC Adele Young, Townsville City Council

12:55pm Lunch & Networking

1.55pm Integration of Energy Storage and Renewable Energy (Kidston Renewable Energy Hub Case Study) Simon Kidston, Genex Power

2.35pm Telecommunications: The Cyclone Debbie ResponseChris Quinn, Resilient Projects

3.20pm Afternoon Tea

3.50pm Disaster Recovery Scenario Panel

5.00pm Wrap Up

6.30pm Dinner, A Touch of SaltSpeaker - David Henderson, JCU Cyclone Testing Centre

Fri 25 Aug 9.00am Site Tour - Cyclone Testing Centre - James Cook University

Simon a Senior Substation Standards Engineer at Energy Queensland.

He has worked for Energy Queensland and its predecessors for the last 25 years as a field technician, designer and engineer focused on high voltage zone substations.

Simon is the current Engineers Australia, Townsville Regional Group chair.

Energy Queensland

MC, Simon Hickey

Simon Kidston has an investment banking background with more than 20 years global experience with groups such as Macquarie Bank, HSBC and Helmsec Global Capital.

Simon is a co-founder and Executive Director of Genex Power, and has responsibility for project finance and business development.

After successfully reaching financial close for the 50MW Kidston Solar Project, he is currently focused on securing funding arrangements with banks and equity partners for the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project and the 270MW Kidston Solar Project.

Executive Director, Genex Power

Simon Kidston

Chris Nielsen FIEAust CPEng NER is a civil engineer with over 25 years’ experience, working primarily as a consulting engineer, but also in software development, sales and research.

Geographically, he has lived and worked in Australia, Asia and Europe. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from James Cook University in 1990 and a Master of Engineering Science from the University of Queensland in 2000.

President, Engineers Australia Queensland Division

Chris Nielsen

Tom is a civil engineer with over 30 years experience in water in water resource strategy, planning, operations and management and is currently supporting the Townsville Water Security Taskforce.

Tom works closely with government agencies, non-government organisations, industry advocacy groups and other clients to collaboratively explore, develop, implement and evaluate regional and national water strategies.

He was recognised for his contribution to regional water resource planning by being awarded an NRM Australia Day Medallion by the Australia Day Council.

Tom was an inaugural Director of the Board of Irrigation Australia Limited and a founding member of the Australian Water Accounting Standards Board. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a member of Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Principal, Badu Advisory

Tom Vanderbyl

Chris Quin is the Director of Resilient Projects.

Chris holds a Master’s degree in Disaster Preparedness and Reconstruction and is a Certified Practicing Project Director (CPPD) with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM).

Chris has a keen interest in resilient infrastructure, and disaster preparedness and mitigation projects. He has extensive experience in successful projects for organisations such as the NSW Office of Emergency Services, Energy Queensland, and Queensland Fire & Emergency Services.

Chris has also worked in the response, recovery, and reconstruction effort to major natural disasters such as Cyclone Yasi, Cyclone Marcia, and Cyclone Debbie, and is an active member of the Queensland State Emergency Service.

Project Director, Resilient Projects

Chris Quin

Charles is responsible for leading the Energy Services team at Energy Queensland.

In this role, Charles and his team will be accountable for the delivery of energy services to customers, businesses and networks. Charles has significant experience with distributed energy assets such as: solar, wind, batteries and smart meters, which will assist Energy Queensland in providing new services to market.

Charles joins Energy Queensland from Beon Energy Services (formerly Powercor) in Victoria where he was a key driver of launching new businesses and service offerings to customers.

Charles has a diverse background and proven record in delivering significant projects and business outcomes. He started his career with the Australian Defence Force before moving into banking with a focus on energy, infrastructure and mining. Charles has also worked in a number of emerging markets such as Mongolia and enjoyed the challenge of working in remote areas.

Executive General Manager Energy Services, Energy Queensland

Charles Rattray

David Murray has over 40 years experience in the planning, design and construction phases of major water infrastructure projects in Queensland including dams, weirs and large diameter pipelines. He started his career as a design engineer in the Irrigation and Water Supply Commission and worked on a number of major projects including the mass concrete Burdekin Falls Dam; Queensland’s largest dam. In 1985, he was appointed Site Engineer at the dam providing the unique opportunity to build designs he had developed. In 1987, David was appointed Resident Engineer and oversaw the completion of the construction of the main dam and the earth and rockfill saddle dams.

Since that time David has undertaken the roles of technical advisor, construction manager, project manager and project director on a number of major water infrastructure and flood mitigation projects.

In the past 15 years David has worked in the private sector; mainly consulting engineering firms. Recently he was recruited back to the public sector and is currently Chief Engineer in the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.

Chief Engineer, Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning

David Murray

Adele Young has been CEO of the Townsville City Council for little over a year. Prior to relocating to Townsville Adele was the Executive Director for Productivity and Reform with the Office for the Public Sector, Department of Premier and Cabinet in South Australia and has previously been the CEO of Clubs South Australia and worked for 18 years in the Northern Territory in a range of roles including Executive Director, Economic Development and Projects which included covering the activities such as the $1Billion Darwin Waterfront project.

The Chief Executive Officer is employed by the council and is responsible for the effective and efficient management of the local government and its employees.

Adele grew up in regional Queensland and has a master degree in marketing and an MBA. She is currently studying towards a law degree.

CEO, Townsville City Council

Adele Young

Rohan is a founding Director of Alluvium Consulting and Principal Environmental Engineer and Geomorphologist based in Townsville. Rohan’s core area of professional interest and expertise is in the understanding and repair of river systems for the benefit of the whole community. This includes both understanding the impact that infrastructure and resource activities have on the riverine environment and impacts the riverine environment can have on those activities.

Rohan has made a substantive contribution to building financial and environmental resilience for mining operations across Queensland over the last 20 years. In the late 1990’s, the government imposed a moratorium on the diverting of any creeks or rivers in the Queensland mining industry due to poor performance. This forced the coal mining industry, through its research body ACARP, to develop a set of design and performance criteria specific to the climatic and geologic conditions of the regions across which they operate.

Founding Director, Alluvium Consulting

Rohan Lucas

David is Director of the Cyclone Testing Station at James Cook University.

David has been with the CTS for 25 years and in this time has broken everything from roofing screws to complete houses. He has conducted cyclone damage surveys and thunderstorm damage surveys in Australia and in North America. He is a board member of the Australasian Wind Engineering Society.

David is the Chair of the Australian Standards Committee for the design installation and testing of metal cladding as well as a committee member on the Wind Loads on Housing standard.

James Cook University

David Henderson

engineersaustralia.org.autwitter.com/engaustralia | @EngAustralia

facebook.com/EngineersAustralia

engineersaustralia.org.au/linkedin

youtube.com/user/engaustralia