SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA: CHANGING THE ENERGY GAME
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HOW SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA IS MAKING UTILITY SCALE RENEWABLE ENERGY A VIABLE CHOICE FOR AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY
RYAN HALL
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SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
Marc Barrington, CEO of SIMEC Energy Australia, shares his insight into the changing face of the nation’s energy sector, the rising tide of customer centricity and the firm’s new battery and solar farm projects
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n Australia, the energy industry is rapidly turning towards greener, more sustainable energy supply solutions, particularly
with regard to one of the country’s most abundant resources: the sun. As of March 2019, more than 2mn solar photovoltaic (PV) installations with 04
a combined capacity in excess of 12GW, were operational across the country. This is all as a result of a changing world. Climate change, potentially the greatest existential threat humanity has faced, is emerging as the defining crisis of our time. The world needs to change or face radical consequences. “All facets of society are aware of climate change, with the majority accepting that humankind has played its part in bringing about global warming. The energy sector globally remains a large emitter of greenhouse gasses and everyone from investors to consumers of energy are aware of this. At the same time, energy prices have continued to rise, to a large extent driven by the ageing nature of Australia’s in-situ thermal generation plants,” explains Marc Barrington, CEO of SIMEC Energy Australia.
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SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
“ One thing that always surprises me in business is, no matter how small a company is, silos always seem to exist” — Marc Barrington, CEO, Simec Energy Australia 06
“Operating a sustainable energy company like SIMEC Energy Australia means we can present solutions to many of these issues by enabling the transition from older – and sometimes less reliable – fossil fuel technologies to clean renewable generation, constructing renewable energy portfolios that deliver lower costs for consumers and finally delivering an environmental outcome for society.” Since 2004, SIMEC Energy Australia (originally ZEN Energy) operated out of Tonsley in South Australia, providing solar PV and storage offerings to residential and commercial customers across the region. Post-Sanjeev Gupta’s majority stake in the business in late 2017, SIMEC Energy expanded into commercial and industrial energy supply nationally with offices in South
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘GFG ALLIANCE - CULTANA SOLAR FARM PROJECT’ 07 Australia, Melbourne and Sydney.
to better respond to the challenges
Barrington has served as CEO since
of a changing landscape. “One thing
July 2018 and brings the better part
that always surprises me in business
of two decades’ experience in the
is, no matter how small a company is,
energy sector to the role. Barrington
silos always seem to exist,” he notes.
shares his insight into the changing
“In the past twelve months, we have
face of the nation’s energy sector,
been able to build a more collaborative
the rising tide of customer centricity
and inclusive culture internally,
and the firm’s new battery and solar
which I believe has delivered – and
farm projects.
will continue to deliver – real results
As the leader of an agile, challengerscale renewable energy provider and
for the business, our people and most importantly our customers.”
retailer, Barrington has spent the last year working to improve SIMEC
A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE MARKET
Energy’s ’s internal operations in order
The company’s customers, Barrington w w w.si me c e ne rgy. com . a u
Data at the heart Analytics Pathway
Data Science
Decision Intelligence @ Scale
“Ignite’s professional, open, pragmatic and business centred approach has been invaluable to Ballance as we establish and embed our Data Science capability.” Chief Digital Officer, Ballance NZ
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The Ignite way: making data the hero Data is at the heart of everything, so why is it so hard to articulate its value? Why do digital transformations focus on collecting more of it, rather than using it more? And why do we try to categorise data into marketing driven terms such as big data, machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence rather than focus on the potential they can unlock? Data is indeed at the heart of everything, but its value lies in how it is used. Like past technology evolutions, investing in great technology tools is necessary but not sufficient. Rather it is about embracing a culture that focuses on the intrinsic value of data to improve the organisations and society around us. That’s a feat few are achieving. Last year, MIT CISR surveyed 315 executives to understand how companies generated economic returns from data activities. • 60% rated their company as average, or below, at using data to create operational efficiencies. • 62% believed their firm was average, below average or unable to integrate analytics into products and experiences. • 40% said they weren’t even looking at, let alone capable of, generating revenues from selling information solutions. Many organisations are clearly still struggling to unlock value from their data, and it’s this challenge that motivates us at Ignite. Lessons we have learnt have taught us to take a pragmatic, business-centred approach to data. We want to make data the hero and put it at the core of solving problems. The focus is on finding repeatable value and then unlocking it perpetually by implementing decision intelligence at scale. That’s how we have built our relationship with SIMEC Energy Australia. For utilities, the issue isn’t convincing anyone of data’s value, it’s proving how to extract it. Leveraging Databricks for machine learning on a Microsoft Azure platform has given SIMEC a powerful solution. As the organisation has grown, we’ve invested together to augment this capability. Though AEMO and market
changes mean many utilities have had to rethink and reinvest in their data platforms, SIMEC are well positioned for the future; poised for data from the Playford Battery, able to adapt to the changing data landscape 5-minute settlements will bring, and able to provide customers the ability to interpret their own data using SIMEC provisioned insights. Using data to improve the communities we live in is at the heart of the partnership investments we make with SIMEC.
“In partnership with Ignite, we have successfully implemented a number of data-intensive and complex initiatives that have had a very positive impact on SIMEC’s growth.” GM Retail Operations, SIMEC Energy Australia
The Ignite way is simple: understand and communicate data science in terms of business application and value. To determine the size of the prize, we work with your experts to discover how data can streamline day-to-day decisions, improve products and experiences or create revenue streams. This focused collaboration allows us to generate excitement around data and data science techniques early. The analytics pathway assesses the feasibility and impact, creating a genuine path to embedding the outcome. It also gives sponsors confidence that time and money are not being wasted “just experimenting” whilst allowing for the exploratory nature of data science. Our relationships reflect our commitment to improve data literacy across the community. As industry mentors with Monash University we help nurture the analysts of tomorrow. By partnering with us, clients know we’ll be doing everything we can to upskill their own talent. For us, a future with amazing analytics platforms, operated and developed by even more amazing people, is one worth pursuing.
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SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
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C O M PA N Y FA C T S
SIMEC’s Majority Investor: The GFG Alliance • SIMEC Energy Australia is a part of the GFG Alliance, and has built an energy offering for GFG and their steel manufacturing interests that enables them to access real value. • GFG Alliance is an international grouping of businesses, founded by the British Gupta Family.
The Alliance’s integrated business model encompasses mining, energy generation, metals and engineering, underpinned by industryfriendly financial services, a substantial property portfolio. • Sanjeev Gupta serves as SIMEC Energy Australia’s chairman.
“ Our customers are better informed as to the way in which they use energy now, than they ever have been historically” — Marc Barrington, CEO, Simec Energy Australia
Marc Barrington
explains, are set to be a major driving force in the energy sector over the next decade. “Our customers are better informed as to the way in which they use energy now than they ever have been historically,” he says, chalking up increased customer savviness to rising energy costs. Barrington’s experience in the space means he sees this trend as one among many that constantly buffet and buoy the industry. “Whether
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
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Marc joined SIMEC Energy Australia as CEO in July 2018, working with a strong team of executives aiming to deliver compelling solutions for commercial and industrial consumers of energy, including the requirements of the Liberty/GFG Group. He is an experienced executive with significant exposure to Australia’s energy markets. Prior to joining SIMEC Energy, Marc was Head of Sales, Asia Pacific at wind turbine OEM, Senvion, prior to this, he held senior positions at AGL Energy including General Manager Energy Services, Head of Eco-Markets and Senior Energy Trader. Marc commenced his career at NM Rothschild and Sons trading precious metals, working in both Sydney and London and then moved to a Geneva headquartered trading house, focusing on metals, foreign exchange and associated derivatives. Marc has undertaken Senior Leadership studies with Melbourne Business School and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has held numerous Board and committee roles including NonExecutive board member for the Australian Alliance to Save Energy as well as participating in many community-based volunteer programs such as the I-Track Mentor with The Smith Family. w w w.si me c e ne rgy. com . a u
SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
it’s changing market structures, such as we have witnessed with the disaggregation of the market and the advent of vertical integration; the change in technology and operational efficiencies; the regulatory landscape or even the changing needs of customers and the rise of the ‘prosumer’ – the energy sector has seen it all.” Certain that SIMEC Energy’s utilityscale renewable offerings are the future of the country’s energy market, Barrington’s generation supply 12
priorities for the company are currently centered around two major projects: the Playford Utility Battery and the Cultana Solar Farm. “Utility-scale renewable energy can deliver prices that are substantially more competitive than the prices of new-entrant thermal generation. When delivered well and structured into an innovative retail energy portfolio, these assets can deliver real savings for customers – particularly when integrated into an active demand-side response programme. Having access to in-house built renewable generation, coupled with the means to firm it, is the foundation of our strategy for our Company,” he explains.
On the retail front, Barrington made clear that he is keenly focused on delivering globally competitive energy to customers and securing ‘win-win’ outcomes through innovative solutions like demand management. “Our customers need energy solutions that allow them to compete both domestically and internationally. I think that we have the operational capability to meet this need,” he said.
PLAYFORD UTILITY BATTERY A utility-scale battery development that will support SIMEC Energy’s renewable energy portfolio and provide services to the national electricity grid, the Playford project will provide direct and indirect employment opportunities in Port Augusta and surrounding areas, as well as assisting in the transformation of the Whyalla Steelworks by enabling the supply of cheaper and cleaner energy. “We have undertaken substantial amounts of work to ensure the use cases for the battery, which will be a world first, deliver value to our portfolio and more importantly to our customers in South Australia,” says Barrington. w w w.si me c e ne rgy. com . a u
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SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
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AUS$250mn Approximate revenue
2015
Year founded
50
Approximate number of employees
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The project, he enthuses, is an industry-leading example of Australian ingenuity harnessing the latest technologies with marke-specific use cases, in order to create long-term value. “The Playford Utility Battery algorithm that we have developed with experts in this field – all of whom are Australian I am proud to say – utilises artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) technology,” he explains. “Should we be able to take this project to financial close, we will demonstrate for the first time the power of battery storage in managing the variability f renewable generation and deliver long term price improvements for end-use customers in the region.”
CULTANA SOLAR FARM With construction scheduled to begin imminently on land just north of the Whyalla Steelworks, the Cultana Solar Farm is a 280MW capacity solar PV facility that will contribute to the national electricity grid via the existing Cultana substation. The project is a key component – coupled with its retail objectives – of the firm’s desire to reshape the w w w.si me c e ne rgy. com . a u
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SIMEC ENERGY AUSTRALIA
Australian energy market by providing utility scale renewable energy at rates that are competitive to current thermal alternatives, and therefore a critical priority. “Given that we are in the final stages of taking Cultana Solar Farm to financial close, I am focusing heavily on planning for the safe delivery of the project with our staff and partners,” confirms Barrington. “We have developed the farm in consultation with the local community and expect that construction will commence before 18
the end of the year.” Looking to the future, Barrington is confident that both SIMEC Energy Australia and the market as a whole are on the right side of history. At any time, I ensure my team can
“ Utility-scale renewable energy can deliver prices that are substantially more competitive than the prices of new-entrant thermal generation” — Marc Barrington, CEO, Simec Energy Australia
devote efforts to looking at a point just beyond the horizon, whether it’s products, systems or trading strategies. I use this approach, as it delivers an anticipatory culture that makes for a very exciting working environment,” he enthuses. In addition to completing its major projects, SIMEC Energy is working on reinvigorating its presence in the commercial and residential solar
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PV and battery storage market,
to see industry in our country grow
as well as expanding its energy
sustainably, what a great challenge
product portfolio. Sustainability,
to have,” he concludes.
of course, will remain at the heart of everything that the company does. Reshaping the country’s energy industry is, Barrington admits, an ambitious goal. “It’s not without challenges, but as a father, a husband, an employer and someone who wants w w w.si me c e ne rgy. com . a u
SIMEC Energy Australia 1284 South Road Tonsley SA 5042 T 1300 902 203 www.simecenergy.com.au