AGA’s 2018 Industry Forum on the 27th & 28th November was a great success! This year’s theme was “The Future of Gas” where Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel set the scene at the Welcome Dinner with his inspirational and captivating key note presentation. Dr Finkel highlighted the opportunities with Hydrogen as a zero carbon emission fuel, and walked us through Hydrogen’s important transitional role into the future.
AGA’s Chairman, Mr Chris Devlin delivered the opening address to kick off the forum’s plenary session outlining AGA’s future vision for our gas industry.
Each presenter continued to take us on a journey by piecing the H2 puzzle together from our upstream, downstream and related gas sectors. AEMO’s David Swift gave us a snapshot of the security and supply of Natural Gas up to the year 2030. This was followed by ENA’s Dennis Van Puyvelde’s insightful presentation, which looked into Hydrogen as a fuel as we approach the year 2050.
CSRIO’s Max Temminghoff then eloquently walked us through the National Hydrogen Roadmap by looking into pathways to an economically sustainable Hydrogen industry. Claire Johnson from Hydrogen Mobility Australia continued on to give us a refreshing presentation on the rapid evolution of Hydrogen in the mobility sector.
AGIG’s Vikram Singh proceeded to discuss the exciting plans to make our Hydrogen theories and discussions a reality with the Hydrogen Park SA (Hyp SA) Demonstration Plant project. Mr Singh described challenges and timeframes involved with such a momentous project.
Mr Enzo Alfonsetti continued on with an informative presentation as the Chairman of the Gas Technical Regulators Committee (GTRC). Mr Alfonzetti described the current regulatory landscape for gas appliances including the new Gas Scheme Rules.
The forum continued to address issues facing our LPG sector of our industry as presented by Gas Energy Australia’s, Mr John Griffiths. Mr Griffiths provided a much needed update regarding the transition from the problematic LPG Type 21 cylinder connection to the new QCC.
The final presentation was delivered by our own Group Manager, Technical Operations, Mr Bill Tabourlos. Mr Tabourlos provided a detailed insight covering the science when looking into transitioning from Natural Gas to Hydrogen. In particular, Bill dissected each of the chemical properties of Natural Gas and Hydrogen and related these to appliance design.
The Forum’s master of ceremonies was AGA’s Managing Director and CEO, Mr Chris Wealthy who brought the entire forum’s proceedings together.
We were delighted to have a record number of AGA members attend including international delegates from Japan, Korea and China. We are also pleased to have most of our state, territory and federal government and regulatory authorities attend covering appliance safety and performance.
Finally, a big thank you to our sponsors who made the 2018 AGA Industry Forum possible!
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