While efficient power and energy supply is critical to every nation's economy and social development, how we achieve this has been scrutinised the world over.

According to CQUniversity's Power Engineering Research Group leader Dr Aman Maung Than Oo, climate change and non-sustainable resources have forced nations to rethink how we power our world.

He says there is now more than ever "a need for robust, sustainable and climate-friendly power transmission and distribution systems that are intelligent, reliable and able to integrate renewable energy sources to replace aging networks, as well as for new developments".

These contemporary issues will be discussed during a series of seminars at CQUniversity, beginning next Tuesday September 13, from 3.15 to 5pm (Building 18 G.40, Rockhampton Campus) with guest speakers Professor Peter Wolfs and Ted Gardner.

Professor Wolfs, the Western Power Chair in Electrical Engineering at Curtin University of Technology, will provide some insight into smart grids, storage and renewables. His presentation will cover new approaches in power distribution modelling, the potential impacts of new load groups such as electric vehicles and the impact of an increasing take-up of rooftop solar systems. He will also discuss some early results from the Perth Solar City high penetration LV feeder trial.

Ted Gardner, who is a Senior Research Fellow with CQUniversity's Institute for Resource Industries and Sustainability (IRIS) will discuss how the impending threat of climate change has changed the fundamental paradigm for supplying basic services to urban communities. The presentation will focus on results from a number of sustainable urban developments that have been monitored over the past few years. Particular attention will be paid to The Ecovillage in the Currumbin Valley on the Gold Coast. 

Mr Gardner has 40 years' experience in the area of edaphology (soil/plant relationships), irrigation and catchment hydrology/salinity, effluent reuse, and urban water sustainability.