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Entura celebrates successful delivery of power market training program

1 March, 2024

Entura is celebrating the success of its latest power market training program for international delegates, delivered through the Entura clean energy and water institute (ECEWI).  

Course participants with ECEWI Business Manager, Amanda Ashworth (centre).

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) supported training was provided as part of the South Asia Regional Infrastructure Connectivity (SARIC) initiative managed by Palladium. Over the last two weeks, 20 engineers and executives with roles in the power sector from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have participated in the course.

Networking and establishing mutually beneficial cross-country relationships are a key component of the SARIC initiative. To meet these objectives, ECEWI curated networking events in both Melbourne, Victoria and Hobart, Tasmania, with relevant industry figures. In Melbourne, this included Kane Thornton, Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council and Mason Interlandi, Business Liaison and External Relations Officer from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Victorian State Office. While in Hobart, participants met with keynote speakers Roger Gill, Chair of TasNetworks and Marinus Link, Erin van Maanen, Executive General Manager of Strategy at Hydro Tasmania, Bess Clark, Senior Executive at TasRex and Michael Connarty, ACEN Australia’s Head of Operations and Trading. Both events included other invited guests from the power sector. Tasmanian State Director of DFAT, Ruth Baird, also welcomed and met with the delegates separately on site during their first training day in Hobart.

Back row, L-R: Entura’s Senior Consultant, Ajit Garg, Entura’s Technical Director, Power, Donald Vaughan, Hydro Tasmania’s Executive General Manager, Erin van Maanen, ACEN Australia’s Head of Operations and Trading, Michael Connarty, Chair of TasNetworks and Marinus Link, Roger Gill, and TasRex Senior Executive, Bess Clark. Front row, L-R: Palladium Group’s Director, International Development Programs, Farheen Khurrum and Entura’s Director, Sales, Strategy and Commercial and ECEWI Business Manager, Amanda Ashworth.

ECEWI’s program covered key power market topics including transmission and interconnection, power exchange market models, details of the Australian national electricity market, the changing nature of markets in a renewable energy future and the role of new interconnection, the factors involved in participating operating and participating in those markets, and the importance of environment, social and governance principles for new generation and transmission. Time was also spent on covering the South Asian context in particular, the status and progress in each country and the opportunities and challenges in increasing interconnection and establishing power exchange markets in the region. The sessions were delivered by Entura’s most experienced power specialists, as well as guests from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the University of Tasmania, Hydro Tasmania, Momentum Energy, Marinus Link and a practising lawyer in the Australian power sector.

The program also included a Welcome to Country and Walk on Country. This provided delegates with an important understanding of some of lutruwita / Tasmania’s First Nations history and cultures, with some reflecting on the value of an indigenous perspective also applicable in their home countries.

“The training provided participants with a deeper understanding of the Australian power market, but most importantly, how its regulations, processes and components can be applied to the sector in their home countries,” said ECEWI’s Program Coordinator, Leesa deGroot.

“For example, the learnings about Basslink and the proposed Marinus Link undersea cables are directly applicable for those from Sri Lanka and India, with the two countries positioned to explore similar interconnectivity opportunities.”

“We thank everyone who was involved in making this training happen and are proud to have again delivered a successful and valuable course for SARIC,” she said.

Amanda Ashworth, ECEWI’s Business Manager and Entura’s Director, Sales, Strategy and Commercial, added, “building networks and connections are such important ways to share knowledge, and to help pave the way for future collaborations. I am truly excited about what this talented group of people can achieve within and between their respective organisations and nations. I know it is a challenge to create connectivity and markets in a region where the scale is enormous and the task seems insurmountable. I trust them to take the lessons from Australia, including what is not applicable, and that they will work to the end goal of prosperity and sustainability in their communities.

In the face of a changing energy landscape, this training provided participants with the opportunities to learn and grow in ways that can make them leaders in their fields and continue to work together step by step to shape the future.”