Inaugural International Conference Energy & Meteorology
Weather & Climate for the Energy Industry
8 — 11 November 2011   Gold Coast   Australia

Dr Alberto Troccoli is a Senior Research Scientist and head of the Weather and Energy Research Unit at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Canberra (Australia). Alberto has about 15 years experience in several aspects of meteorology and climate, including data assimilation, seasonal and decadal climate forecasts, mostly built during his work at NASA and at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). He has planned and managed components of very large EU projects and he is now the leader of the CSIRO-initiative Weather Renewable Energy Management. Alberto has been the Director of two very well received NATO events and he is the chief editor and an author of the books 'Seasonal Climate: Forecasting and Managing Risk' (Springer, 2008) and 'Management of Weather and Climate Risk in the Energy Industry' (Springer, 2010). He is currently a member of the panel on energy security and climate change of the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program administered by the World Bank. Alberto holds a PhD in physical oceanography and climate from the University of Edinburgh (UK).

Mr Paolo Bonelli received his degree in Physics in 1975 at the University of Rome (Italy), with a Thesis in Atmospheric Physics. In 1978 he joined the Italian Meteorological Service as an Air Force Officer, where his work concerned operative meteorology. In 1980 he joined the Research Division of National Electric Energy Body (ENEL) where he worked till 2000 in the field of meteorology applied to energy management. In ENEL he was the coordinator of activities and projects concerning the application of meteorology in the environment and in the electric energy system. These activities concerned experiences on Meteorology and Information Technology. From 2000 to 2005 he joined CESI S.p.A. and since 2006 he has worked at CESI RICERCA S.p.A that changed the name in ERSE S.p.A. and then in RSE S.p.A. in the present year. In this public company he manages a group of 15 researchers. His activity has always concerned applied meteorology with particular attention to the energy sector. Current topics are: meteorology for renewable energy, weather risk for overhead power lines, air quality and electrical systems.

Mr Mohammed Sadeck Boulahya has, in the last three decades, acquired outstanding experience in science & technology for development and capacity building to enable professionals in applying weather and climate to natural resource management and agriculture in Algeria, the whole of Africa and beyond. He holds a Research Certificate in Arid Land Agro-meteorology from CSIRO-Australia, State Engineer in Hydro-Meteorology, WMO Class I Master of Sciences, Diploma in Advanced Applied Mathematics. With the support from UNDP-GEF and GCOS, Mohammed Sadeck contributed to the initiation, development and resource mobilisation of the ClimDevAfrica Programme with full ownership and leadership from the main Pan African Institutions, like AUC, ECA and AfDB. In parallel, he has contributed to the conception of an Early Warning and Advisory Climate Services System as a support to an Integrated Disaster & Climate Risk Management for Tunisia. Since January 2009, he has been a Senior Adviser to the ACMAD Management, with a mission to initiate an International Development & Advocacy Committee of Eminent Persons (IDACom-ACMAD) for resource mobilisation and strategic partnership. With more than 30 year experience, Mohammed has accumulated knowledge and capabilities to advise and contribute to the initiation, conception, implementation or evaluation of any socio-economic and natural resources management programme which is already or might be impacted by an ever changing climate. Mohammed heavily contributed to the preparation and organization of the Seventh Africa Development Forum (www.uneca.org/adfvii), a continental stakeholder consultation which will continue for few years under the ClimDevAfrica Framework Programme.

Dr Carlo Buontempo is a senior climate scientists at the Met Office Hadley centre where he leads the climate adaptation team. The main focus of his team is to develop innovative tools to help companies and policy-makers managing their climate risk profile. Carlo got a BA in Physics in 1998 at University of Rome, he continued his research with a PhD in Physics at university of L'Aquila and he then moved to Canada for a Post-doc at York University. Carlo joined the Met Office in 2005 where he briefly worked on numerical weather prediction before joining the climate impact team in 2007. Over the years Carlo developed an extensive experience in generating regional climate scenarios to inform the adaptation process. He has been the main scientific contributor to a number of projects and programs involving climate change adaptation in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Dr Laurent Dubus is an engineer in marine environment and holds a PhD in Physical Oceanography from the University of Brest (France). After 2 years of postdoctoral research in physical oceanography, he joined EDF R&D in 2001 as a research engineer in the Applied Meteorology and Atmospheric Environment Group. He is now an Expert Research Scientist and Project Manager. He developed skills and experience in climate system modelling, weather and climate forecasts and electrical systems management. His activities particularly concern the improvement of the way in which weather and climate data and forecasts can be used in the power sector to better manage electrical systems on all time scales from a few days to several years. Laurent has been involved in the WMO forum 'Social and Economic Applications and Benefits of Weather, Climate, and Water Services'. He is also a member of the Superior Council of Meteorology of France, of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and of the French Meteorological Society. He wrote several peer reviewed papers and gave many talks in international conferences and workshops.

Ms Jane Ebinger was assigned to the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) as Thematic Coordinator for Energy and Climate Change in October 2008. Jane has over 20 years experience working in the energy sector both in the oil and gas industry (for BP and BHP Billiton) and at the World Bank. She joined the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia Energy team initially on a staff exchange program from BP. She has worked in project, operational and corporate/policy roles on issues including environmental assessment and management, safety risk assessment, oil spill and emergency response management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and carbon finance. Jane has an MA Mathematics and an MSc Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis, both from Oxford University, UK.

Professor Dave Griggs is the Chief Executive Officer, ClimateWorks Australia, Director Monash Sustainability Institute and Professor Monash University. In September 2007 Dave moved to Australia to become Director of the Monash Sustainability Institute (MSI) which aims to deliver solutions to key sustainability challenges. In November 2008 he also became CEO of the newly created organisation ClimateWorks Australia (CWA), focussed on action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Previous positions he has held include UK Met Office Deputy Chief Scientist and Director of the Hadley Centre for Climate Change, and Head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific assessment unit. Dave is currently the vice-chair of the World Climate Research Programme and is a member of the Victorian Ministerial Reference Council on Climate Change Adaptation, the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors and the Climate Institute Strategic Council. Dave was awarded the Vilho Vaisala award (World Meteorological Organization) in 1992.

Dr Sven-Erik Gryning, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, has more than 20 years experience in boundary layer meteorology. He has extensive experience in management of large international projects such as the Øresund-experiment, a NORDFORSK funded project, and he was chairman for the management Committee for the NOPEX experiment, a large meteorological/hydrological experiment within the GEWEX framework. He is a member of the BALTEX Science Steering Group (BSSG) since 2002. BALTEX is dealing with the Baltic Sea in accordance with the general structures of GEWEX and other projects within the WCRP and ESSP. He was chairman and convener for the NATO ITM - an international conference in air pollution modeling 1992-2000. He is on the editorial board of several international journals including being Associate editor of the Quarterly Journal for the Royal Meteorological Society 2002-2007. He received his master and PhD from the Technical University in Denmark and is a Doctor of Science from Copenhagen University. He has been awarded the NATO CCMS price for outstanding leadership. His recent scientific interest is on wind energy, mainly devoted to the analysis of wind profiles both over land and off-shore.

Dr Mike Harrison is the Managing Director and co-founder of Climate-Insight. He is responsible for overseeing the overall strategy and day-to-day operations of the network to ensure that Climate-Insight maintains its prominent role in the provision of weather & climate advice to business and government institutions. His experience has been built in the UK and Africa, in the UK Met Office, and in the UN both working directly in the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and on numerous external UN-related projects. Well known as an international leader in the field of seasonal prediction through his management of the WMO CLIPS (Climate Information and Prediction Services) Project, which followed his contribution to the establishment of the Regional Climate Outlook Forums in Africa, Mike also has wide experience in predictions on time scales from a few days to climate change, and a major interest in approaches to the use of forecasts and in the impacts of weather and climate. With a Ph.D. in Climate from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and degrees from Imperial College, London, Mike has managed numerous international projects dealing with predictions on a variety of time scales and their uses, as well as completing successful a variety of independent consultations. Amongst his extensive publications list is editorship of and authorship in the book 'Seasonal Climate: Forecasting and Managing Risk'.

Dr Sue Ellen Haupt recently joined the Research Applications Laboratory of NCAR as Scientific Program Manager for Renewable Energy. She previously headed the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics at the Applied Research Laboratory of The Pennsylvania State University where she still holds the rank of Senior Scientist and Professor of Meteorology. She earned her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan (1988), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1984), M.S. in Engineering Management from Western New England College (1982), B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State (1978), and did a postdoctoral fellowship with the Advanced Study Program of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. She has also been on the faculty of the University of Colorado/Boulder, The U.S. Air Force Academy, University of Nevada, Reno, and Utah State University and previously worked for the New England Electric System and GCA Corporation. Dr. Haupt is an expert in boundary layer meteorology, large scale atmospheric dynamics, dynamical systems, numerical methods, artificial intelligence methods, and computational fluid dynamics. Her specialty is in applying novel numerical techniques to problems in the environmental sciences in both basic and applied research. She enjoys teaching and mentoring graduate students as well as directing projects and research programs. Dr. Haupt recently chaired the Committee on Artificial Intelligence Applications to Environmental Science of the American Meteorological Society, and teaches the portions of short courses given by that committee on using genetic algorithms for environmental science problems. She is also a member of the American Geophysical Union, Society of Women Engineers (served as faculty advisor for student groups for five years), American Society of Engineering Education, Chi Epsilon Pi, and Phi Mu Epsilon. She co-authored Practical Genetic Algorithms (Wiley and Sons 1998, second edition 2004); is primary editor for Applications of Artificial Intelligence Methods in the Environmental Sciences (Springer, 2009); and has authored over 200 book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports.

Dr Detlev Heinemann is a senior scientist in the Energy and Semiconductor Research Laboratory (EHF) of the Institute of Physics. He received a Diplom degree in Meteorology at the University of Kiel and holds a PhD degree in Physics from the University of Oldenburg (title of thesis: "Control of Renewable Energy Systems Using Energy Weather Forecasts"). Since 1984 he is working with EHF which he also headed for a two year period due to a vacancy of the directors position. Now he is head of EHF's applied renewable energy research branch including the main fields – energy meteorology and wind energy. He has managed numerous national and international research projects related to the analysis of renewable energy systems and especially to meteorological aspects within this field. He is currently the principal scientist of eight research projects of the European Commission addressed to these fields, two of which he also co-ordinates...

Dr George Kariniotakis is in charge of the Team EnR (Renewable energies and grids) at the Centre for Energy and Processes (MINES ParisTech - CEP), and is one of the French representatives to the management committee of the domain "ESSEM - sciences of the system Earth and its environment" of COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). Furthermore, Georges Kariniotakis was named member of the steering committee of the European Technology Platform for Wind Energy (TPWind), for period 2010-2014. He heads the ANEMOS consortium, including SafeWind, which is a software platform for improving forecasts associated with wind energy production...

Mr Amit Kumar is the Director of Energy-Environment Technology Development Division of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India. He is a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He has been working on the development and diffusion of cleaner and renewable energy resources based technological solutions in India for 27 years. His experience ranges from policy and programme formulation, through project implementation, to the design and development of renewable-energy technologies, as well as manufacturing of solar energy devices. In TERI, currently he is responsible for research activities in the fields of renewable energy, sustainable building design, and resource efficient process applications. He is well - versed in developing and coordinating global projects involving multi-nations and multi-stakeholders such as GEF-supported study to assess solar and wind resources in developing countries besides being well conversant with policy and programme formulation for governments. He is a Member, Core Group on Solar Mission, Government of Uttar Pradesh. He led the projects related to development of Sri Lanka's policy framework for renewable resource based electricity generation and development of integrated energy management master plan for Bhutan. At the field level, he managed the design, construction and commissioning of one of the largest solar ponds at Bhuj in western India from 1987 to 1996, and Asia's first solar powered cold storage in early eighties. He is also actively involved in taking forward South-South cooperation in Africa and the Pacific Island countries. He also serves as Honorary Director, Centre for Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development, the University of Fiji. In his capacity as the Regional Programme Advisor, REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) South Asia Secretariat, he oversees REEEP activities in the region.

An architect by initial training, Mr Trevor Lee is a consultant on energy conservation in the built environment through his multi-disciplinary firm Energy Partners. He is the lead author of the Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook (ASRDH, 2006) and team leader for developing the current Australian Climate Data Bank (ACDB, 2008), the basis of all building and energy system simulation programs in current use in Australia. Subsequently, he worked on a project for the then Australian Greenhouse Office and again in 2010 for its successor to project the impact on the built environment of "inevitable climate change". His interests include solar energy applications and ethical investment and, in pursuit of these, he has served as the Chairman of the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (ANZSES) and as a director of the Sustainable Energy Industry Association forerunner of the Clean Energy Council (CEC) and of the Canberra-based funds manager Australian Ethical Investment Ltd.

Mr William P. Mahoney III is a Program Director, Weather Systems Assessment Program, at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Research Applications Laboratory (NCAR/RAL) located in Boulder, Colorado. He has been involved in research and development activities at NCAR for 24 years and directs weather research and development programs in aviation, surface transportation, social sciences, agriculture, verification, intelligent forecast systems, and renewable energy. Mr. Mahoney received his M.S. degree from the University of Wyoming in 1983, specializing in windshear and cloud microphysics. He received his B.S. degree in Aeronautics from Miami University of Ohio in 1981. He spent more than a decade researching microburst wind shear and its impact on aviation operations and was involved in the development of the Low-Level Wind Shear Alert System (LLWAS) and the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR). More recently his focus has been on developing advanced surface transportation weather hazard detection capabilities and wind energy prediction technologies. In addition to his program management duties, Mr. Mahoney is involved in program development and commercialization activities at NCAR. Mr. Mahoney has written or co-authored more than 40 papers and frequently presents NCAR's work at national and international conferences and seminars. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), Transportation Research Board (TRB), Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA), American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), and the Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG), and is active on several atmospheric science and surface transportation committees. Mr. Mahoney is the Past-Chair of the AMS Board on Enterprise Economic Development, and was a member of the AMS Economic Development Committee.

Dr Pascal Mailier is with the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (French::L'Institut royal météorologique de Belgique or IRM) (Dutch::Koninklijk Meteorologisch Instituut or KMI). RMI is the Belgian federal institute of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). It is located in Uccle and in Dourbes. The meteorological institute performs scientific research and provides public services on the sciences of the atmosphere and meteorological geophysics, hydrology, geomagnetism and magnetohydrodynamics. The institute studies the physics, chemistry and dynamics of the atmosphere on a macro-, meso- or micro-scale. In addition the institute studies the effects of atmospheric disturbances on the surfaces of the continents and oceans, on electromagnetic and acoustic waves and on certain extraterrestrial phenomena. The institute gathers data which constitute a basis for studies in climatology and hydrology...

Dr Pierre-Philippe Mathieu is an Earth Observation Applications Engineer in the Earth Observation Science & Applications Department of the European Space Agency in ESRIN (Frascati, Italy). He spent 10 years working in the field of environmental modelling, weather risk management and remote sensing. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and M.Sc from University of Liege (Belgium), a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Louvain (Belgium), and a Management degree from the University of Reading Business School (UK).

Mr Ian Muirhead heads the Data Services unit at the National Climate Centre, within the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The Bureau of Meteorology is an Executive Agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then...

Dr Yacob Mulugetta is with the African Climate Policy Centre, which is part of UNECA. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states (the nations of the African continent) following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly. It is one of five regional commissions. The ECA has 53 member states corresponding to the 53 member states of the United Nations that lie within the continent of Africa...

Dr David Pozo Vázquez is in the Applied Physics department at the University of Jaén (UJA or UJAEN).
UJAEN is a public university based in Jaén, Andalucía, Spain.
David specialises in:

• spatial and temporal variability of renewable energy resources
• prediction of solar radiation
• and issues around renewable energy and climate change

...

Prof. Roberto Schaeffer teaches and conducts research in the Energy Planning Program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he currently holds an Associate Professor position in Energy Economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania (USA), a M.S. in Energy Planning from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Paraná. His main interests are in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy and global climate change. Dr. Schaeffer has already supervised more than 80 masters and Ph.D. theses and published more than 100 scientific papers in the fields of energy and the environment. Previously to his current professional position in the Energy Planning Program, he was, for two years, a Visiting Professor at the Center for Energy and the Environment, and a Lecturer at the Wharton School, both at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Schaeffer has been contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and assessments since 1994 as both Lead-author or Coordinating-lead-author. Currently he is a Coordinating-lead-author of the chapter on 'Mitigation Costs and Potentials' of the upcoming IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy (SRREN), to be delivered by 2011, and a Coordinating-lead-author of the chapter on "Transportation" of the also upcoming IPCC Working Group 3 Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), to be delivered by 2014. Dr. Schaeffer is also Associate-editor of the two British scientific journals Climate Policy and Energy-The International Journal.

Dr Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt holds a PhD in Meteorology and works as scientist at DLR's German Remote Sensing Data Centre in the Atmosphere department. She is responsible for the Meteosat Second Generation product development with respect to renewable energies at DLR-DFD. She coordinated the ENVISOLAR on 'Space-based environmental information for solar energy industries' project within European Space Agency's Earth Operation Market Development Programme and is currently the lead of the sub-project 'Radiation' within the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) preparatory project MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate). She has been member of the executive board of the German funded Virtual Institute of Energy Meteorology, is involved in the management committee of EC COST action ES1002 on 'Weather Intelligence for Renewable Energies (WIRE)' and serves as co-chair of the Energy Community of Practice in GEOSS. She also participates in the International Energy Agency Task 36 on Solar Resource Knowledge Management. She has also been a member of the International ATOVS Working group and involved in the preparation for the operational ENVISAT and METOP aerosol product at DLR. She has about 70 publications (15 peer reviewed, book contributions and conference proceedings) on atmospheric remote sensing and energy meteorology and holds a patent on atmospheric correction (EU, Canada and US granted).

Mr Wes Stein is the manager of Renewable Energy for CSIRO's Division of Energy Technology, where he is involved in developing and delivering renewable energy technologies, projects and innovative energy strategies which foster the development of a sustainable energy industry. He established, and acts as the Project Leader for, the National Solar Energy Centre (NSEC) which comprises both high and medium concentration solar collectors for solar research, development and demonstration, as well as the Centre's solar hydrogen and solar turbine projects...

Dr Bruce Sumner is the Chairman, and the executive Secretary, of the Association of Hydro-Met Equipment Industry.
HMEI member companies share the desire to maximize opportunities for their industry as a whole and have shown a commitment, by joining HMEI, to increasing both the world's knowledge of the Hydro-Meteo industry and the quality of products produced for the industry.
The Association members cover the whole range of development, marketing, and retail of hydrological and/or meteorological hardware, software, systems, and support services...

Dr Rong Zhu is a senior scientist of Center for Wind and Solar Energy Resources Assessment in China Meteorological Administration (CWERA/CMA). Zhu Rong has about 8 years experience in numerical simulation for wind energy resource assessment and 20 years experience in aspects of atmospheric boundary turbulent diffusion and city air quality forecasting based on numerical model. In recent years, Zhu Rong’s research group developed Wind Energy Resource Assessment System of CMA (WERAS/CMA), finished China wind map in resolution of 1km×1km and assessed offshore wind energy resources of China. In addition, Zhu Rong developed City Air Pollution Prediction System for air quality operational forecasting in more than 50 cities in China from 2000 to 2005.