SUMMIT AGENDA 2026

DAY1

Day 1 Morning: AI and Market Innovation: Driving APAC’s Energy Future

08:15 - 09:15 (60 mins)

Registration

09:15 - 09:25 (10 mins)

Opening Welcome by Conference Chair

Struan Buchanan
Partner
Deloitte

09:25 - 09:35 (10 mins)

[Minister’s Opening Keynote] Shaping Victoria’s Future: AI, Energy and New Opportunities for Innovation and Growth

Hon. Danny Pearson MP
Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, Minister for Government Services, Minister for Finance
Victorian Government

09:35 - 09:45 (10 mins)

[Keynote] Securing NSW’s AI and Energy Future: Enabling Investment, Digital Infrastructure and Reliable Power

Mr. James Griffin MP
Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change
Shadow Minister for Digital, Artificial Intelligence and Investment
Shadow Minister for Customer Service
Parliament of NSW

09:45 - 09:55 (10 mins)

[Keynote] Unlocking New Opportunities at the Intersection of AI, Digital Economy and Renewable Energy in South Australia

Hon Chris Picton MP
Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy
Government of South Australia (Virtual)

09:55 - 10:10 (15 mins)

[Keynote] Reshaping the Energy Market for the AI Era: Data, Consumer Energy Resources, and the Rules That Need to Change

Andrew Lewis
Executive General Manager Consumer, Markets and Analytics
Australian Energy Market Commission

10:10 - 11:00

(50 min)

[C-Suite Visionaries] Global AI–Energy Landscape: From Compute Power to Energy Transformation

As AI adoption accelerates across the energy sector, what does a credible, enterprise-wide digital transformation roadmap actually look like — and how are leading organisations moving from strategy to execution?
With AI infrastructure driving unprecedented growth in energy demand, how are operators, technology providers, and solution partners rethinking their strategies to balance scalability, reliability, and sustainability?
Building resilient digital energy systems goes beyond performance optimisation — how are organisations embedding cybersecurity, data integrity, and trusted AI practices into the foundation of their digital operations?
What role does cross-sector collaboration — between energy operators, technology providers, and regulators — play in accelerating the transition, and where are the biggest gaps that still need to be closed?

Moderator:

Roger Jeffrey
Partner
Deloitte

Panelists:

Kevin Lin
Chief Information Officer
Stanwell Corporation

Mario Ellaz
Chief Information Security Officer
AusNet

Andrea Bernard
Chief Operating Officer, ENGIE Retail
ENGIE Australia & New Zealand

Colette Munro
Pacific Zone President
Schneider Electric

Shane Bannister
Head of Business Development and Project Sales, Energy APAC
Tesla

Coffee Break (30 mins)

11:30 - 12:20

(50 min)

[Panel] AI-driven Power Market and Energy Security: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Participants

How AI and digitalization are changing the electricity market and creating new opportunities and challenges
How new players such as electrification, distributed energy, storage, and virtual power plants are all shaping the future power market
Maintaining secure and reliable market operations in a rapidly digitalizing environment
The evolving dynamics of power systems and considerations for adapting to emerging technologies

Moderator:

Anita Oh
Managing Director and Partner
BCG

Panelists:

Chua Shen Hwee
Chief Data Officer
Energy Market Authority

Andrew Hyland
Chief Commercial Officer
Aula Energy

Sumone Chakravarti
Executive General Manager, Consumer and Innovation
SEC

Jim Bullock
Managing Director, Power Utilities & Energy Transition, Asia
Microsoft

Liam McWhirter
General Manager Enterprise and Strategic Customers
Origin Energy

Luncheon

Day 1 Afternoon: AI and Energy Integration for Next-Generation Systems and Collaboration

14:10 - 15:00 (50 mins)

[Panel] Powering the Hyperscale Age: Integrated Data Centre Solutions

How can AI compute growth be matched with grid capacity to support scalable, low-carbon deployments?
How is collaboration between data centre operators, tech providers, and utilities driving integrated, future-ready energy solutions?
What are the best ways to co-locate data centres with wind, solar, and hydro assets to make the most of clean energy?
How can high-density AI workloads be managed to tackle grid stress and renewable intermittency using intelligent infrastructure and energy optimisation?

Moderator:

Sam Bruce
Executive Director
Pollination

Panelists:

Nishi Vissamraju
Head of Sustainability
NexTDC

Andrew Sjoquist
Founder & CEO
WinDC

Mousa Namavar
Director of Carbon Solutions, Asia Pacific
SLB

Belinda Dennett
Chief Executive Officer
Data Centres Australia

Rik Irons-Mclean
Sector Lead Manufacturing and Energy, and Enterprise CTO
Microsoft ANZ

15:00 - 15:20 (20 mins)

[Keynote] Powering the AI Economy: How Alinta Energy is Responding to the Data Centre Revolution

Nipun Arora
Head of Projects Commercial, Studies and Analysis
Alinta Energy

Coffee Break (40 mins)

16:00 - 16:50 (50 mins)

[Panel] Adaptive Smart Grids at System Scale: AI-Driven Flexibility, Reliability and Resilience

Improving load forecasting and renewable generation forecasting accuracy
Using AI to optimise DER integration and renewable energy uptake
Enhancing grid resilience and reliability to handle faults and unexpected events
Standardised data interfaces and data-sharing frameworks

Moderator:

Emma Hawthorne
EY Oceania Energy Leader
Ernst & Young

Panelists:

Luke Jenner
Chief Assets and Digital Officer
Essential Energy

Tom Gooch
VP, Commercial
Neara

Moonis Vegdani
Chief Network and Digital Officer
Counties Energy

Asanga Lokusooriya
Lead Client Partner and AI & Data Advisor
IBM

17:00 - 18:00 (60 mins)

Cocktail Party

Day 2 Morning: Driving Energy Project Excellence: AI and Digital Innovation in Operations

08:30 - 09:00 (30 mins)

Registration

09:20 - 09:30 (10 mins)

Opening Welcome by Conference Chair

09:30 - 10:20 (50 mins)

[Executive Panel] Redefining Energy Transition in APAC: AI, Digitalisation, and Sustainable Innovation

How are AI and digital tools improving efficiency and reducing risk across electricity networks and infrastructure — from the planning and delivery of large-scale transmission to asset management and day-to-day network operations?
What does it actually take to drive electrification at scale — across households, businesses, and new energy consumers such as data centres — and how can digitalisation make the energy transition accessible and beneficial for all?
How do we synchronise the pace of infrastructure build-out with growing consumer demand, and what role does digitalisation play in bridging that gap?
What are the biggest real-world barriers facing both the delivery and consumer sides as the industry pushes toward low-carbon goals?

Moderator:

Celine Luke
Partner, Net Zero and Energy Transition
Ernst & Young

Panelists:

Danny Benjamin
Executive General Manager, Delivery
VicGrid

Peter Jackowski
General Manager, Delivery and Operations - Consumer and Innovation
SEC

Michael GIBBS
Chief Operating Officer-Network
Northpower

Matt Webb
Executive General Manager Grid Development
Transpower New Zealand

10:20 - 10:40 (20 mins)

[Keynote] AI Readiness in Practice: AGIG's Journey to Unlocking Capability

Kristen Pellew
Group Head of Customer and Community
Australian Gas Infrastructure Group

Coffee Break

11:00 - 11:50

(50 mins)

[Panel] Next Gen Intelligent Energy Assets: Optimising Efficiency, Performance and Resilience

What are the core pain points in traditional energy asset operations, and what problems has AI actually solved — beyond the hype?
How are predictive maintenance, real-time data monitoring and digital twins being implemented in practice, and what challenges have operators encountered along the way?
Legacy systems, data quality, organisational capability — what are the hardest barriers to cross when driving intelligent asset transformation?
In the context of the energy transition, how can intelligent asset operations simultaneously support system reliability and long-term low-carbon objectives?

Moderator:

Dr Antonin Demazy de Fortet
Founder
GG Advisory

Panelists:

Liam Smith
General Manager, Strategy and Integration
APA Group

Natasha Kostakos
Head of Smart Infrastructure & Building Automation Ecosystems
Delta Electronics

Paulo Gottgtroy
Head of Decision Science & Analytics
Mercury NZ

Luncheon

Day 2 Afternoon: Shaping the Energy Transition: Governance, Carbon, and Organizational Innovation

14:10 - 15:00 (50 mins)

[Panel] Scaling Enterprise AI in Energy Beyond Legacy Systems and Silos

Building robust AI governance frameworks that align organisational strategy with risk, compliance and value realisation.
Integrating historical and legacy systems through effective data migration, cleaning and architecture to enable enterprise AI at scale.
Moving beyond isolated pilots by standardising AI platforms, MLOps capabilities and cross-department collaboration.
Commercialising AI by defining measurable value metrics, realising ROI and embedding AI into core business processes rather than one-off projects.

Moderator:

Sabrina D'Cruz
Energy Director
Thoughtworks

Panelists:

Emma Eltringham
Principal AI Product Manager
Woodside Energy

Daniel Morse
Head of Data and Analytics (Chief Data Officer)
EnergyAustralia

Mark Brown
Head of Data and AI, ANZ
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Graeme Jackson
General Manager, Data & Analytics
Vector Limited

15:00 - 15:20 (20 mins)

[Keynote] Contact's journey in building AI capability across the energy business — from strategy to execution

Kate Kolich
Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence
Contact Energy

Coffee Break (30 mins)

15:40-16:30
(50 mins)

[Panel] Powering the AI-Driven Energy Transition: From AI Governance to People-Led Change

What does responsible AI governance look like in practice — from cybersecurity and data privacy to ethical accountability and public trust?
How are energy leaders redesigning workflows and decision-making structures — while keeping human judgement at the centre?
How are organisations reskilling their workforce and empowering frontline workers to thrive in an AI-driven energy environment?
How do leaders balance the pace of technological change with the human need for purpose, stability, and community acceptance?

Moderator:

Christina Larkin
Associate Partner
Ernst & Young

Panelists:

Dr Brett Szmajda
Deputy Executive Director
National AI Centre, Department of Industry, Science and Resources

Aaron Butler
Digital & Data Platforms Manager
Santos

Kate Kolich
Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence
Contact Energy

Jamal Waqar
Head of Research, Experience, Data and Analytics
Standards Australia

19:00 - 21:00

(180 mins)

SUMMIT AGENDA 2026

Day 1 Morning: AI and Market Innovation: Driving APAC’s Energy Future

Registration

Opening Welcome by Conference Chair

Struan Buchanan Partner Deloitte

[Minister’s Opening Keynote] Shaping Victoria’s Future: AI, Energy and New Opportunities for Innovation and Growth

Hon. Danny Pearson MP Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, Minister for Government Services, Minister for Finance Victorian Government

[Keynote] Securing NSW’s AI and Energy Future: Enabling Investment, Digital Infrastructure and Reliable Power

Mr. James Griffin MP Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change Shadow Minister for Digital, Artificial Intelligence and Investment Shadow Minister for Customer Service Parliament of NSW

[Keynote] Unlocking New Opportunities at the Intersection of AI, Digital Economy and Renewable Energy in South Australia

Hon Chris Picton MP Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Government of South Australia (Virtual)

[Keynote] Reshaping the Energy Market for the AI Era: Data, Consumer Energy Resources, and the Rules That Need to Change

Andrew Lewis Executive General Manager Consumer, Markets and Analytics Australian Energy Market Commission

[C-Suite Visionaries] Global AI–Energy Landscape: From Compute Power to Energy Transformation

As AI adoption accelerates across the energy sector, what does a credible, enterprise-wide digital transformation roadmap actually look like — and how are leading organisations moving from strategy to execution?

With AI infrastructure driving unprecedented growth in energy demand, how are operators, technology providers, and solution partners rethinking their strategies to balance scalability, reliability, and sustainability?

Building resilient digital energy systems goes beyond performance optimisation — how are organisations embedding cybersecurity, data integrity, and trusted AI practices into the foundation of their digital operations?

What role does cross-sector collaboration — between energy operators, technology providers, and regulators — play in accelerating the transition, and where are the biggest gaps that still need to be closed?

Roger Jeffrey Partner Deloitte

Kevin Lin Chief Information Officer Stanwell Corporation

Mario Ellaz Chief Information Security Officer AusNet

Andrea Bernard Chief Operating Officer, ENGIE Retail ENGIE Australia & New Zealand

Colette Munro Pacific Zone President Schneider Electric

Shane Bannister Head of Business Development and Project Sales, Energy APAC Tesla

Coffee Break (30 mins)

[Panel] AI-driven Power Market and Energy Security: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Participants

How AI and digitalization are changing the electricity market and creating new opportunities and challenges

How new players such as electrification, distributed energy, storage, and virtual power plants are all shaping the future power market

Maintaining secure and reliable market operations in a rapidly digitalizing environment

The evolving dynamics of power systems and considerations for adapting to emerging technologies

Anita Oh Managing Director and Partner BCG

Chua Shen Hwee Chief Data Officer Energy Market Authority

Andrew Hyland Chief Commercial Officer Aula Energy

Sumone Chakravarti Executive General Manager, Consumer and Innovation SEC

Jim Bullock Managing Director, Power Utilities & Energy Transition, Asia Microsoft

Liam McWhirter General Manager Enterprise and Strategic Customers Origin Energy

Luncheon

Day 1 Afternoon: AI and Energy Integration for Next-Generation Systems and Collaboration

[Panel] Powering the Hyperscale Age: Integrated Data Centre Solutions

How can AI compute growth be matched with grid capacity to support scalable, low-carbon deployments?

How is collaboration between data centre operators, tech providers, and utilities driving integrated, future-ready energy solutions?

What are the best ways to co-locate data centres with wind, solar, and hydro assets to make the most of clean energy?

​How can high-density AI workloads be managed to tackle grid stress and renewable intermittency using intelligent infrastructure and energy optimisation?

Sam Bruce Executive Director Pollination

Nishi Vissamraju Head of Sustainability NexTDC

Andrew Sjoquist Founder & CEO WinDC

Mousa Namavar Director of Carbon Solutions, Asia Pacific SLB

Belinda Dennett Chief Executive Officer Data Centres Australia

Rik Irons-Mclean Sector Lead Manufacturing and Energy, and Enterprise CTO Microsoft ANZ

[Keynote] Powering the AI Economy: How Alinta Energy is Responding to the Data Centre Revolution

Nipun Arora Head of Projects Commercial, Studies and Analysis Alinta Energy

Coffee Break (40 mins)

[Panel] Adaptive Smart Grids at System Scale: AI-Driven Flexibility, Reliability and Resilience

Improving load forecasting and renewable generation forecasting accuracy

Using AI to optimise DER integration and renewable energy uptake

Enhancing grid resilience and reliability to handle faults and unexpected events

Standardised data interfaces and data-sharing frameworks

Emma Hawthorne EY Oceania Energy Leader Ernst & Young

Luke Jenner Chief Assets and Digital Officer Essential Energy

Tom Gooch VP, Commercial Neara

Moonis Vegdani Chief Network and Digital Officer Counties Energy

Asanga Lokusooriya Lead Client Partner and AI & Data Advisor IBM

Cocktail Party

Celine Luke Partner, Net Zero and Energy Transition Ernst & Young

Danny Benjamin Executive General Manager, Delivery VicGrid

Peter Jackowski General Manager, Delivery and Operations - Consumer and Innovation SEC

Michael GIBBS Chief Operating Officer-Network Northpower

Matt Webb Executive General Manager Grid Development Transpower New Zealand

Kristen Pellew Group Head of Customer and Community Australian Gas Infrastructure Group

Dr Antonin Demazy de Fortet Founder GG Advisory

Liam Smith General Manager, Strategy and Integration APA Group

Natasha Kostakos Head of Smart Infrastructure & Building Automation Ecosystems Delta Electronics

Paulo Gottgtroy Head of Decision Science & Analytics Mercury NZ

Sabrina D'Cruz Energy Director Thoughtworks

Emma Eltringham Principal AI Product Manager Woodside Energy

Daniel Morse Head of Data and Analytics (Chief Data Officer) EnergyAustralia

Mark Brown Head of Data and AI, ANZ Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Graeme Jackson General Manager, Data & Analytics Vector Limited

Kate Kolich Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence Contact Energy

Christina Larkin Associate Partner Ernst & Young

Struan Buchanan
Partner
Deloitte

Hon. Danny Pearson MP
Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, Minister for Government Services, Minister for Finance
Victorian Government

Mr. James Griffin MP
Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change
Shadow Minister for Digital, Artificial Intelligence and Investment
Shadow Minister for Customer Service
Parliament of NSW

Hon Chris Picton MP
Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy
Government of South Australia (Virtual)

Andrew Lewis
Executive General Manager Consumer, Markets and Analytics
Australian Energy Market Commission

Roger Jeffrey
Partner
Deloitte

Kevin Lin
Chief Information Officer
Stanwell Corporation

Mario Ellaz
Chief Information Security Officer
AusNet

Andrea Bernard
Chief Operating Officer, ENGIE Retail
ENGIE Australia & New Zealand

Colette Munro
Pacific Zone President
Schneider Electric

Shane Bannister
Head of Business Development and Project Sales, Energy APAC
Tesla

Anita Oh
Managing Director and Partner
BCG

Chua Shen Hwee
Chief Data Officer
Energy Market Authority

Andrew Hyland
Chief Commercial Officer
Aula Energy

Sumone Chakravarti
Executive General Manager, Consumer and Innovation
SEC

Jim Bullock
Managing Director, Power Utilities & Energy Transition, Asia
Microsoft

Liam McWhirter
General Manager Enterprise and Strategic Customers
Origin Energy

How can high-density AI workloads be managed to tackle grid stress and renewable intermittency using intelligent infrastructure and energy optimisation?

Sam Bruce
Executive Director
Pollination

Nishi Vissamraju
Head of Sustainability
NexTDC

Andrew Sjoquist
Founder & CEO
WinDC

Mousa Namavar
Director of Carbon Solutions, Asia Pacific
SLB

Belinda Dennett
Chief Executive Officer
Data Centres Australia

Rik Irons-Mclean
Sector Lead Manufacturing and Energy, and Enterprise CTO
Microsoft ANZ

Nipun Arora
Head of Projects Commercial, Studies and Analysis
Alinta Energy

Emma Hawthorne
EY Oceania Energy Leader
Ernst & Young

Luke Jenner
Chief Assets and Digital Officer
Essential Energy

Tom Gooch
VP, Commercial
Neara

Moonis Vegdani
Chief Network and Digital Officer
Counties Energy

Asanga Lokusooriya
Lead Client Partner and AI & Data Advisor
IBM

Celine Luke
Partner, Net Zero and Energy Transition
Ernst & Young

Danny Benjamin
Executive General Manager, Delivery
VicGrid

Peter Jackowski
General Manager, Delivery and Operations - Consumer and Innovation
SEC

Michael GIBBS
Chief Operating Officer-Network
Northpower

Matt Webb
Executive General Manager Grid Development
Transpower New Zealand

Kristen Pellew
Group Head of Customer and Community
Australian Gas Infrastructure Group

Dr Antonin Demazy de Fortet
Founder
GG Advisory

Liam Smith
General Manager, Strategy and Integration
APA Group

Natasha Kostakos
Head of Smart Infrastructure & Building Automation Ecosystems
Delta Electronics

Paulo Gottgtroy
Head of Decision Science & Analytics
Mercury NZ

Sabrina D'Cruz
Energy Director
Thoughtworks

Emma Eltringham
Principal AI Product Manager
Woodside Energy

Daniel Morse
Head of Data and Analytics (Chief Data Officer)
EnergyAustralia

Mark Brown
Head of Data and AI, ANZ
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Graeme Jackson
General Manager, Data & Analytics
Vector Limited

Kate Kolich
Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence
Contact Energy

Christina Larkin
Associate Partner
Ernst & Young

Dr Brett Szmajda
Deputy Executive Director
National AI Centre, Department of Industry, Science and Resources

Aaron Butler
Digital & Data Platforms Manager
Santos

Kate Kolich
Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence
Contact Energy

Jamal Waqar
Head of Research, Experience, Data and Analytics
Standards Australia

7-8 July 2026
MCEC, Melbourne
#AIETA2026