Message from the Lord Mayor 7 November 2023

It's been a whirlwind week at the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) 2023 AGM and conference, proudly hosted by the City of Perth.

Hello again,

It's been a whirlwind week at the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) 2023 AGM and conference, proudly hosted by the City of Perth.

The WECP is a global partnership of energy cities from all continents that are committed to fostering the transition to a more sustainable energy future. As the only Australian WECP member city, we were honoured to host our international delegates for this prestigious event and we took every opportunity to showcase our State and city's strengths in the energy transition.

In hosting almost 50 delegates from 10 cities from around the world, this was also a unique opportunity to display the City of Light on a global stage, and we left our visitors in no doubt that Perth is one of the most liveable cities in the world. From our glorious surroundings, to our world-class hospitality and dining scene, we showcased our city to the world.

You'll find all of the key WECP highlights further down this email.

WA Public First with Perth Hydrogen refuelling station

As part of the WECP program, at the Committee for Perth Power Panel session, I announced that Western Australia’s first public hydrogen refuelling station will be built in the City of Perth, thanks to an agreement between the City and Frontier Energy Ltd.

Basil Zempilas speaking at announcement of hydrogen refuelling station

Celebrating our program contributors

Our program was such a success thanks to all of our valued contributors from industry, government, academia and world-class hospitality. The program offered so many opportunities to share knowledge and successes that support a more sustainable energy future, but it is through celebrating the contribution of our program contributors and what they offer our city and State where the real success is found for WECP Perth 2023.

Highlights | WECP Perth 2023

Welcome at Government House

We welcomed our delegates to Perth with a fantastic formal welcome at Government House, hosted by His Excellency, the Governor of Western Australia, Chris Dawson AC AMP. Our international delegates received a Welcome to Country with a special smoking ceremony, before enjoying the formalities and a chance to network with the consular corps and government representatives.

Day 1 | 'Energy today'

We were very lucky to have The West Australian's Chief Reporter Ben Harvey facilitating our program. In a powerful start to the WECP AGM Conference, the day began with an address by the Honourable Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Energy and Hydrogen Industry about energy production here in the prestigious energy hub of Western Australia. We also heard from leading industry minds including Global CEO Fortescue Energy Dr Mark Hutchinson, and Executive Director and Asia Pacific Chief Economist, S&P Global Market Intelligence Rajiv Biswas gave an enthralling talk on what's next for the economy, on a global scale, national and local scale.

A panel discussion concluded the morning on pathways to energy transition gave us lots to think about regarding the different roles wind power, hydrogen and WA's abundant minerals will play in the near and long term, thanks to fantastic contributions from CEO Infinite Green Energy Stephen Gauld, Development Manager Australian Copenhagen Energy Joy Francis-Hayes, CEO Tianqi Raj Surendran, Principal Applications Engineer Pacific Energy Owen Lock, and CEO and CFO Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia Nicole Roocke.

In the afternoon, we got on the road and took our delegates on engaging tours of BHP's Integrated Remote Operations Centre, before heading to Kensington to tour the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Energy Innovation Labs and the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre.

Day 2 | 'New ideas'

We were generously hosted for the morning of Day 2 by Chevron Australia in Elizabeth Quay. The Hon Madeleine King, Federal Minister for Resources, opened proceedings before I conducted an entertaining exchange with Managing Director Chevron Australia Mark Hatfield who gave a great in-depth response on the role hydrogen is playing in supporting the transition to net zero emissions.

The morning concluded with the Supercharge WA panel and pitch session, headlined by Chief Scientist of WA Professor Peter Klinken AC. This energetic session gave us plenty of new ideas on trends in entrepreneurship, technology and innovation in energy transition. The pitch and panel session also included University Commercialisation Manager Rohan McDougall, Co-founder and Director Casual Dynamics Max van Someren, CEO Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation Toby Swingler, and Corporate Venturing Manager Woodside Rob Afleck.

The afternoon included the 'Power Panel: Global lessons on building sustainable cities' hosted by the Committee for Perth, which gave attendees from business, industry and more the opportunity to hear from successful mayors and city developers from Denmark, Norway, South Africa and the United States.

The WECP Annual General Meeting was conducted in the late afternoon at Council House, before the gala dinner at the Ritz Carlton again brought industry, government, academia and business stakeholders together with our delegates to facilitate more connections and conversation aimed at furthering the sustainable energy transition.

Day 3 | 'Sustainability in action'

WECP Highlights Sustainability in Action

Another power packed agenda on Day 3 saw us hosted by Woodside Energy in the morning. I had a very interesting chat with Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill before our delegates had the unique opportunity to see Woodside's renowned Robotics lab.

We headed to The University of Western Australia for the afternoon for an amazing tour of the research areas, and a fantastic panel discussion that dived into research on 'Seas, Storage and Synergy: Charting a Sustainable Energy Future', featuring Director of Oceans Institute UWA Christophe Gaudin, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Resources Edith Cowan University Professor Dr Stefan Iglaue, and Director of Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, Curtin University Professor Peta Ashworth OAM.

We concluded the delegates visit with a farewell and chance to see an iconic Perth sunset over the Indian Ocean at Longview in Cottesloe.