About the event

The Australian Government is delivering a suite of environmental research projects to support renewable energy proponents and to help decision makers. Join the EIANZ ACT Division to gain an update on the status of two core projects and to provide early feedback to the Australian Government’s delivery partners.

The projects involve:

• Targeted research on species affected by renewable energy developments.
• New and updated regulatory guidance for renewable energy infrastructure.
• Useful and effective tools and data for managing renewable energy facilities.

This event is an opportunity to gain an update on the status of two core projects and to provide early feedback to delivery partners from Symbolix Pty Ltd and the Unverisity of Adelaide's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). The two projects that will be at the heart of these discussions will be the 'Development of a collision risk assessment framework for wind farms' and 'Standardised survey protocols and data standards'.

The development of a collision risk assessment framework for wind farms project

The development of a collision risk assessment framework for wind farms project aims to provide a cosnsistent and streamlined approach in support of faster decision making. The framework will have best practice approaches from international sources to inform a method of detailed guidance for assessing collision risk for bird and bat species listed under the EPBC Act. The Australian Government's delivery partner for this project is Symbolix Pty Ltd, who will have a representative acting as one of our event speakers.

The standardised survey protocols and data standards project

The standardised survey protocols and data standards project aims to provide a clear and consistent approach for proponents. This will ensure survey expectations are clear upfront and reduce the likelihood that futher infomation is required during the assessment. The project seeks to ensure efficient collection of ecological data and implement efficient environmental assessment processes. The Australian Government's delivery partner for this project is the Univeristy of Adelaide's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), who will also have a representative acting as one of our event speakers.

Meet the Speakers

Elizabeth Stark FEIANZ | Managing Director, Symbolix Pty Ltd

Elizabeth is the Managing Director and head of Data Science Products at Symbolix. She keeps the team productive and works with clients to translate their business, transport or ecological needs into functioning data science solutions in a realistic time frame and budget. Elizabeth is formally an applied mathematician, a certified scrum master, certified product owner and has over a decade’s experience communicating complex systems to policy makers, stakeholders and the general public. Her ecological work has seen her recognised as a Fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

Sally O’Neill MEIANZ | Tern Ecosystem Surveillance Operations Manager, The University of Adelaide

Sally is an ecologist with a diverse range of skills and experiences. She is currently the Operations Manager for the TERN Surveillance platform based at The University of Adelaide. Sally coordinates operational aspects of the field program, ensuring regulatory requirements associated with operating across the country are met. Sally coordinates the delivery of the Australian Government Department for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (DCCEEW) project, which provides standardised ecological monitoring survey protocols for the natural resource management community.

Previous roles have seen Sally lead auditing for environmental compliance at mine sites, statutory reporting on environmental compliance across a range of industries, preparing environmental impact assessments and approvals documents for various mining companies in both Western Australia and South Australia, and developing environmental management plans for both off-shore gas facilities and nature reserves. Before a change to environmental approvals, Sally built her passion for monitoring wildlife populations, especially populations alongside industry impacts. She has developed before-after-control-impact ecological monitoring programs for various mining projects in a broad range of ecosystems to collect data for compliance reporting, mine closure rehabilitation planning, and wildlife research.

Who should attend?

This event will be of vital importance to anyone working in the renewable energy sector, especially wind farm development managers, wind energy engineers, wind turbine manufacturers, wind turbine service contractors, wind farm asset managers, environmental compliance managers, environmental advisors, ecological consultants, impact assessment specialists, species data analysts and threatened species researchers.

Lunch will be provided for all registered delegates.

CPD points