ANU Solar Oration 2026 - Out of gas: managing the decline of gas in Australia.

The ANU Solar Oration 2026 will be delivered by Alison Reeve who will present: Out of gas: managing the decline of gas in Australia. 

For more than a century, gas has been deeply enmeshed in the Australian economy. It heats our homes and cooks our food, generates electricity, fuels industry, and brings in export income.

But in the past decade, this has started to change. As Australian households and businesses search for cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient fuels, they are using less gas. And yet, the use of gas will need to decline even faster to meet emissions-reduction targets. 

The energy transition is also a transition for gas – from a widespread fuel to one that occupies some vital but small niches in a mostly-electrified economy.

About the speaker: Alison Reeve is the Energy and Climate Change Program Director at Grattan Institute and is a Visiting Fellow at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions. She has two decades of experience in climate change, clean energy policy, and technology, in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.

Alison was Grattan’s Deputy Program Director between 2021 and 2025. Before joining Grattan, she worked in the Commonwealth public service, most recently as the General Manager of Project Delivery at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. She led development of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy in 2019, as well as Commonwealth policy for offshore wind, energy innovation, energy efficiency, and structural adjustment.

Past orators include:
2025: Meryn York AM, AEMO, Commissioner, Australian Energy Market Commission.
2024: Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance
2023: Professor Renate Egan, Executive Director for the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics
2022: Drew Clarke AO, Chair of the Australian Energy Market Operator
2021: Matt Stocks, ANU and Marta Victoria Aarhus University, Denmark
2020: Mark Jacobson, Stanford University
2019: Fleur Yaxley, Head of Development, Australia – UPC Renewables
2018: Ivor Frischknecht, former CEO of ARENA
2017: Audrey Zibelman, CEO of Australian Energy Market Operator

More information

• This will be a hybrid event with the option to attend either in-person at The Australian National University campus or online. Light refreshments will be available for in-person participants from 5.30pm with the Oration commencing at 6.00pm.
• The event will be recorded and made available online.
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