Supporting the transition to a low-carbon energy supply by providing expert analysis, insights, advice and capability-building
The global energy sector is entering a transition phase as the market moves towards a low carbon economy. With this shift comes technological, economic and social disruption.
CAEEPR aims to maximise the energy sector's potential to achieve emission reductions and contribute to inclusive, sustainable and prosperous businesses and communities while building capacity in the electricity economics. CAEEPR uses a national electricity market model to develop and analyse different scenarios to assess different policy positions for generator dispatch and transmission efficiency.
Sustainable Development Goals
Griffith University is aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is committed to addressing the global challenge of developing and implementing sustainable energy solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure access to clean energy for all.
Current state of Australia's energy sector
The challenges
- Australia is faced with ageing energy infrastructure, changing patterns of energy demand and increased risks from cyber threats, extreme weather events, and businesses exiting from coal fired power plants.
- There are also great risks to the existing network vis-à-vis managing power system frequency, greater evening ramping rates as solar PV reduces output, and the loss of inertia and system strength.
- As more solar comes into the market, the “fleet” of existing coal plants may find the cycling of capacity increasingly problematic.
- Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) is the OECD’s most coal-intensive power system. However as the generation system transitions and more renewable energy sources become available, operators, the transmission network and governments need independent world-class applied research to support their decisions making.
- As the technology rapidly develops and green hydrogen becomes available, we need to understand the interdependencies of the system, the interactions with the electricity distribution system and adjust policies and regulations to optimise outcomes.
The opportunities
- The Energy sector will play a crucial role in economic recovery and regeneration – in Queensland, nationally and globally.
- Energy is central to emerging trade and investment agenda globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership and commitment to focus on 'energy dialogues’ across the region.
- On 22 September 2020:, the Federal Government announced the Technology Investment Roadmap: First Low Emissions Technology Statement 2020 (PDF) to reduce emissions, create jobs and strengthen the economy.
- The shift towards variable renewable energy sources (wind and solar farms, hydro and pumped hydro stations, hydrogen gas turbines) provides opportunities for job creation for installation and maintenance of these new facilities.
- The location of supply and load as well as load controls require economic analysis to optimise dispatch, transmission power flows and the stability of the wholesale electricity system.
- CAEEPR can provide these analyses through economic modelling and policy research and develop solutions.
Our aims
Support
Support the transition to more sustainable and less carbon-intensive power generation and transmission system and address the accompanying policy, economic, technical and political challenges within the industry.
Thought leadership
Provide thought leadership and industry engagement strategies that our members can design and deliver best practice energy services with reduced emissions.
Maximise potential
Maximise the energy sector's potential to achieve stable and reliable electricity contributing to inclusive, sustainable and prosperous businesses, communities and places.
Foster innovation
Foster holistic and integrated approaches that seek to address political and policy impediments to a successful transition to electrification and green hydrogen.
Develop partnerships
Promote research partnerships and collaboration for the use of sustainable energy in electricity markets across Asia and the Pacific.
Encourage dialogue
Encourage dialogue between members, researchers, industry and government departments to promote policy debate, research partnerships and collaboration.
Develop member capabilities
Develop our members and researchers' skills to enhance adaptability, technical and policy capabilities in the sector to support changes in technology and business models, institutional and regulatory arrangements, and wholesale and retail electricity markets.
Develop new standards
Develop and maintain cutting-edge Electricity Market models for the analysis of wholesale spot and future markets, power system reliability, integration of dispatchable and intermittent resources, and adequacy of network capacity.
Our research expertise
The Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research is well positioned to support the transition to a low-carbon energy supply by providing expert analysis, insights, advice and capability-building. The Centre will work with the electrification of industry and organisations to support the future of the Australian economy.
The Centre is hosted by Griffith Business School and is accumulating a group of internationally-recognised specialist researchers in the field of applied energy economics and policy research complementary to our members. Our key areas of strength include:
Wholesale Electricity Market Modelling
CAEEPR provides wholesale electricity market modelling with demonstrated experience and capability in conducting simulation modelling encompassing optimized dispatch outcomes relating to generation, spot prices, power flows on transmission branches flows, network adequacy and network augmentation, operating at a nodal level of detail.
Energy, Renewables and Climate Change Policy
CAEEPR provides high-quality economic analysis to inform public policy relevant to the clean energy and just transition options currently or potentially available to the electricity and broader energy sectors within Australia and to inform investment decisions.
Electricity Market
CAEEPR provides high-quality economic analysis to inform wholesale electricity market policy and design through assessing financial/dispatch outcomes, marginal losses and marginal loss factors and different models of transmission access.
Become a member
CAEEPR members come from a range of Australian and international energy generation and transmission operators. Existing members include: Powerlink Queensland, CS Energy, Stanwell Energy, Clean Co, Iberdola Australia, Tilt Renewables, Queensland Treasury Corporation, King and Wood Mallesons, Energy Queensland, BP Light source, Department of Energy and Climate, Global Power Energy, Zinfra.
We invite our members to proactively engage with our research team at quarterly seminars/workshops, conferences, and webinars and stay up to date with the latest research and industry developments.
To find out how your organisation can become a member of CAEEPR please contact the Secretariat via email at CAEEPR@griffith.edu.au.
Member eligibility criteria
To be eligible for membership members are required to:
- be organisations in the electricity industry.
- have values and a strategic intent that aligns with the values of Griffith University.
- pay a fee due on 1 July each year as agreed by the Advisory Board.
Process for membership
- Financial members are to identify potential members for consideration at the first meeting of the calendar year (early March) or out-of-session in the first two months of the calendar year, should the first meeting be delayed.
- In considering membership applications, the Advisory Board must consider alignment with the values of Griffith University, the impact of the new member on the reputation of the CAEEPR , and the impact of the new member on the ability of CAEEPR to raise funding from a broad range of funding sources.
- Current members may object to a new member: objections must be provided in writing to Chair of the Advisory Board and include reasons for rejecting membership.
- Griffith University has the right of veto to any mew member proposed.
- After agreement by the Advisory Board and PVC (Business) Griffith University, potential members can be approached formally by the Chair of the Advisory Board, and offered a CAEEPR Agreement to sign.
Advisory board
CAEEPR is led by a distinguished Advisory Board comprised of representatives from Griffith University and the founding member organisations. The Chair of the Advisory Board is Craig Rogers, Partner, King and Wood Mallesons.
View our Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board.
An annual fee applies for partner organisations. For more information please contact the Secretariat via email at CAEEPR@griffith.edu.au.
Academic affiliate
Griffith University academics researching wide-ranging aspects of energy, electrification and decarbonisation and who are keen to engage with industry to develop applied research projects, work with HDR students and increase industry engagement in the university environment, can be considered for academic affiliate membership.
For more information, please contact the Secretariat via email at CAEEPR@griffith.edu.au.
Research opportunities
A variety of research opportunities exist for Honours, Masters, PhD and post-doctoral research students. Scholarships are also available.
If you'd like more information on how you can undertake research studies with CAEEPR please please contact the Secretariat via email at CAEEPR@griffith.edu.au.
Our team
Meet our team of dedicated experts, who are driving our research success. Our team consists of Griffith staff members, Adjunct Professors and Visiting Fellows (a visitor program is available upon request).
If you'd like more information on becoming an Adjunct of the Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, please contact our secretariat via email at CAEEPR@griffith.edu.au.
Follow the links to individual profile pages for more information about our research strengths, key projects, collaborations and research supervision opportunities.
Professor Magnus Soederberg
Professor Magnus Soederberg comes to us from Sweden where he worked at Halmstad University. Previously he was responsible for developing and teaching the B.Sc. in Energy Management at the University of Southern Denmark, the only undergraduate education in Scandinavia that focuses on energy economics/business. His current research interests include regulation approaches, benchmark methods and consumer responses to electricity prices.
Professor Paul Simshauser AM
Paul Simshauser AM is a Professor of Economics at Griffith University where he specialises in Energy Economics and Energy Policy. He has more than two decades of experience in the energy sector. His prior roles include Director-General of the Department of Energy and Water Supply and Chief Economist with one of Australia’s largest utilities, AGL Energy and General Manager Energy Trading at Stanwell Corporation.
Associate Professor Tim Nelson
Tim is an Associate Professor at Griffith University and is widely published in Australian and international peer-reviewed journals. He has presented at conferences in Australia and throughout Asia and Europe. He holds a PhD in economics for which he earned a Chancellors Doctoral Research Medal and a first class honours degree in economics. Tim is also a fellow of the Governance Institute (FGIA and FCIS) and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Associate Professor Joel Gilmore
Associate Professor Joel Gilmore is passionate about providing critical analysis that helps industry and government transition our energy sector to a low emissions future. He is particularly interested in the integration of renewable generation into our grids, how electricity markets could (or should) evolve over time to provide the right signals for investors, and how investors can best structure their projects to obtain – and hence deliver – maximum value.
Associate Professor Duy Nong
Duy is an Associate Professor working with CAEEPR based in Brisbane. He specialises in computable general equilibrium modelling development for economic, climate change, environmental, and energy studies. He is pursuing the development of a set of global and national computable general equilibrium and partial equilibrium models to study the impact of climate variability on agricultural and food systems.
Adjunct Associate Professor Richard Meade
Richard is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University, and over more than 30 years has published or advised on current and future competition and regulation issues in energy, transport and infrastructure sectors, as well as on decarbonisation and climate change policy. He regularly presents to scholarly, policy, and practitioner audiences in Australasia and elsewhere. Richard holds a PhD in industrial organisation and regulation, awarded with Distinction, from Toulouse School of Economics, as well as degrees in economics and finance, and statistics and operations research.
Adjunct Professor John Pierce AO
John Pierce is an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Griffith University and has over thirty years’ experience in economics, public policy and finance, governance and industry reform. He has extensive experience as a senior advisor to governments in the areas of fiscal, energy and climate change policies. He has previously been Chairman of NSW Treasury Corporation and served for more than a decade as New South Wales Treasury Secretary.
Dr Nancy Spencer
Nancy Spencer’s career started with the Queensland Electricity Commission before returning to QUT to complete her PhD in econometric time series.. She has extensive knowledge and expertise in developing and implementing complex social, economic and crisis policy solutions. At Griffith, Nancy continues her leadership in evidence-led policy development engaging cross-faculty teams. Nancy is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and serves on several not-for-profit boards.
Dr Reza Hajargasht
Dr Reza Hajargasht is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University. He specialises in efficiency and productivity analysis, with his work published in leading economics journals. In energy economics, his current research interests include econometric modelling of energy markets, measuring of the efficiency of energy firms, price gouging behaviour in fuel markets and cross-country studies of renewable versus non-renewable energy sources.
Dr Phil Wild
Phil has a PhD from the University of Queensland specialising in the field of macro-economic modelling. His main area of research since 2009 has been in Energy Economics with a particular focus on wholesale electricity market modelling of the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM), integration of variable renewables (e.g. wind, solar PV, hybrid gas-solar thermal), energy policy issues linked to that research agenda and econometric modelling of National Energy Market (NEM) spot price and load time series data.
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