Prior to joining the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), Mr Porter spent eighteen years in the Victorian Government working on sustainable energy policy and climate change. From 2004 to 2007 he was the Executive Director in charge of climate change and was responsible for landmark policy documents such as the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy (2002) and the Greenhouse Challenge for Energy (2004).

Mr Porter led the climate change practice of the Nous Group from 2007 to 2009 and is currently a board member of GreenFleet and a member of the Foundation Group of Safe Climate Australia.

1. Where does your interest in clean energy stem from?

I first became interested in energy and sustainability while I was at university, but my interest grew dramatically when I started my first job, in the Victorian Government, working on energy efficiency in buildings and appliances. My first manager was Alan Pears, who is still a major figure and intellectual leader in energy sustainability in Australia – he helped me find my passion for clean energy.

2. What top two steps does the industry need to take to be cost competitive with traditional energy generation? How can these be achieved?

The clean energy industry – and here I mean renewable energy almost exclusively – needs to work with governments and the community to see a real price on carbon, delivered through an effective Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. In addition, the industry needs a strong Renewable Energy Target driving least-cost, large scale renewables, coupled with localised price setting through feed-in tariffs for demand-side generation technologies. But at the same time the clean energy sector needs to invest heavily now in technology development, and in improving the efficiency of its own operations.

3. What has been the greatest achievement of the clean energy industry in the past five years?

At a large scale, it has been the growth of the wind industry from virtually nowhere to becoming a market leader in clean energy. But for me the most exciting achievements have come in the growth of responses that give people the opportunity to contribute to sustainability: improvements in building design and appliance efficiency, the growth in solar hot water uptake and the more recent explosion in photovoltaic (PV) panel installation.

4. Where do you see the clean energy sector going in the short and long term?

In the short term the sector is trying to make sense of the vast array of sometimes conflicting policy signals and looking to government for price settings and leadership in responding to climate change. Much of the focus in the short term is on clean energy behaving like traditional large scale generation. In the longer term, I believe we’ll see intelligent grids enable distributed clean energy solutions to proliferate: fuel cells, micro wind, thin film PV and demand management and energy efficiency, with fleets of electric cars acting as a distributed battery, system-wide.

5. What are the top two government incentives/policy measures you would like to see implemented today? Why?

At the top of my list is a nationally consistent, gross feed-in tariff supporting all demand-side renewable energy sources at small to medium scale. The second would be a dramatic overhaul of building stock through tightened building codes, disclosure of efficiency at time of sale, and incentives and support for the low-income housing sector. Building efficiency offers dramatic and cost effective energy savings, which give us the time to turn over and update our generation sector with the least disruption.

6. What promising project is ATA currently developing or implementing?

Some of our most exciting work involves ATA member volunteers travelling to Timor L’este and working with local communities to install PV generation and lighting systems at the village scale – all based on philanthropic donations. We’ve worked with some amazing people, learnt a lot and grown the capacity of locals to maintain and support these technologies. And we’ve provided light to local communities.

7. What one piece of advice would you give new entrants to the clean energy industry?

Don’t rely on government and the market price signal; build relationships up and down your value chain, with energy network providers and with communities who will support you. Don’t focus on the huge scale – instead look at portfolios of investment across technologies and at small and medium scales. Whatever you might hear, it’s people who will buy clean energy and have the final say.