Lana Stockman, Commissioner
Keynote address, State of Energy Research Conference 2025
University of NSW
It’s a pleasure to be here today to talk about the interaction between research and policy. My name is Lana Stockman, and I’m a Commissioner at the Australian Energy Market Commission. In this role, I have the privilege of helping shape the rules and frameworks that support Australia’s energy transition, making sure they are fair, forward-looking, and fit for the challenges ahead.
Like others before me today, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands, waters and skies where we live and work. As we strive for a cleaner energy future to mitigate the effects of climate change on all our lives, the AEMC recognises that First Nations people have cared for all these places we now call home for millennia before this time. So in my native language, I pay my respects:
Ka tuku mihi au ki te hononga mauroa o ngā iwi o ngā tangata moemoeā me ngā Motu o Toreseteira ki tō rātou Whenua.
Which translates to:
I pay my respects to the enduring relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to Country—and to the lessons that relationship has for all of us.
In the spirit of honouring knowledge and cross-cultural learning, I’d also like to share a Māori proverb that speaks to the importance of education and inquiry:
‘Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere, ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao.’
‘The forest belongs to the bird who feasts on the miro berry, the world belongs to the bird who feasts on knowledge.’
It’s a fitting sentiment for this academic research conference. We gather here today as seekers of insight, builders of evidence, and collaborators in understanding how best to serve our communities and our energy future. Today I would like to cover my own journey into the value of academic research and how that translates into the work we do at the AEMC. Then I will pivot to give an overview of the AEMC strategic narrative before delving a little deeper into our research@aemc program.
So, before I speak more about our research program and partnerships, I want to share a little of my own journey—because, like many of us here, it’s been shaped by both curiosity and collaboration. And that the linkages and learning from an academic environment come back again and again in the energy sector.
I’m here today, in part, thanks to an email late last year from our Chair, Anna Collyer, and a paper she sent me from the team at Monash University Energy Institute. The paper was titled The storage imperative: Powering Australia’s clean energy transition and it focused on storage in wholesale market design and bidding behaviour.
This captured some nebulous ideas I’d been thinking about—but hadn’t yet seen clearly expressed. It articulated a compelling way of thinking about system design and reminded me just how influential academic research can be in shaping policy conversations.
But my engagement with academic work didn’t start there—it has been a much longer journey.
Engineering, and assumptions
I began in civil engineering, completing a BE with honours. What drew me in was a deep curiosity: how do things work? I still remember the satisfaction of designing a simple wooden shed—calculating the loads, sketching the joints, watching a structure take shape on paper.
Of course, the complexity grew. In earthquake design, for instance, assumptions are tested. The equations worked…until they didn’t. I learned that sound engineering—and good policy—requires questioning even our most foundational assumptions, more so when what you think should (or shouldn’t) happen is not consistent with your observations.
That mindset around challenging assumptions also occurs within the AEMC. Our recent work with the Reliability Panel drew on 80 years of weather data, which Griffith University kindly shared, to help reframe our understanding of high-impact, low-probability events. By reassessing assumptions, we arrived at better insights and an improved policy response.
Lessons in finance, and risk
As I progressed, I realised that technical solutions alone aren't enough—someone must fund the infrastructure. This led me to study finance, which reshaped my thinking about value, risk, and investment. Those tools are just as relevant in market regulation. Our Price Trends report, for instance, now incorporates academic work on hedging strategies in the NEM to understand how risk is managed and shared.
Yet policy doesn’t unfold in spreadsheets alone.
Psychology, and human connections
Experience in governance has taught me that the collective decision-making process —especially under pressure—can feel irrational. During the COVID period, I studied for a science degree in psychology to better understand what drives human behaviour. That learning has proven vital. Sound policy design must reflect not only what people should do but also why they actually do it.
This has shaped how we think about equity. Academic frameworks developed for Commonwealth work have influenced how we approach reform at the AEMC. We've developed our own equity principles and embedded behavioural insights into projects like our Pricing Review work. This piece of work focuses on pricing for a consumer-driven future. It reflects a more human-centred approach, recognising that policy must resonate with how people live, decide, and act.
AEMC strategic priorities
This brings me to our broader strategic direction.
The AEMC’s work is guided by a narrative: a consumer-focused net zero energy system. It’s more than a vision—it’s a practical framework for navigating complexity and uncertainty. It acknowledges that we often must act before all the data is in, and that decision-making is about judgment, not just calculation.
Importantly, it aligns closely with the research mindset. Policy, like science, is iterative. The best insights emerge through collaboration, testing, and dialogue.
Our narrative is anchored in four core priorities—each one with a strong research dimension:
Consumer energy resources
First, consumer energy resources. Rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles—these are reshaping how energy flows. But just as important are consumers' behaviours, incentives and expectations. These ideas reflect conversations that I had yesterday at our AEMC mini-conference, another place where we aim to connect research and policy. Our pricing review uses behavioural economics and equity frameworks to ask: How do we design systems that are both efficient and fair?
Gas transition
Secondly, the gas transition. This is perhaps the most complex and contested space we work in. Academic research on transition theory, exit planning, and risk allocation is helping inform how we manage the decline of gas in a way that’s transparent, economically sound, and equitable. Again, yesterday I had the privilege of understanding how some of our key academic researchers are approaching this very issue.
Network regulation
Thirdly, network regulation. With demand shifting and new technologies emerging, the grid itself is changing. That calls for innovation in everything from asset valuation to regulatory incentives. Here, too, research is helping shape better investment and pricing outcomes.
Future markets
Finally, future market design. We're exploring how markets, mechanisms, and system services can help deliver a reliable, low-emissions grid. These questions demand interdisciplinary research —technical, economic, behavioural. They are prime territory for academic and policy partnership.
These aren’t abstract policy themes. They are deeply connected to real-world decisions—and real-world research. And just how real world? This morning, Professor Nelson talked about some of the challenges and possible solutions he is considering as part of the NEM review panel. As Tim has noted, the shift towards a more weather-dependent system emphasises the importance of managing risks of abundance and scarcity, which will become more acute. These risks are managed by participants contracting with each other. As such, it is critical that contract markets evolve to provide risk management products that are useful to both buyers and sellers of electricity. As well as take advantage of emerging technologies. And the consequences of design decisions that are made today will affect not only our present experiences of the energy system, but those future experiences of our children and grandchildren as well.
Academic collaborations and opportunities
That’s why collaboration with the academic community is so important to us.
Late last year, we signed our first university MOU with Monash University’s Energy Institute. This memorandum formalises a shared research agenda across wholesale markets, resilience, and system design. As Monash put it, the MOU ‘bridges academia, industry and policymakers to unlock research-driven insights’.
This is not a box-ticking exercise. It aligns with our research priorities—multi-disciplinary, policy-relevant, and grounded in engineering and economic rigour.
We are not just working with Monash. Researchers are welcome to share new projects and test their thinking with real-world practitioners through our Breakfast of Champions academic seminar series. These interactive, in-person seminars allow researchers to test early-stage ideas or interim results from ongoing studies with us. In turn, we learn about new concepts, challenge ideas and integrate those with our policy thinking.
We are also delighted to welcome a new postgraduate researcher from the Macquarie Energy Centre for an embedded placement with our team. These types of placements bring fresh thinking, deepen capability, and underscore our openness to collaboration.
Beyond these examples, our research@AEMC channel offers a standing invitation. It is coordinated by Dr Neil Lessem, who is here today. Whether you're developing a new model, seeking input, or looking for a letter of support for a grant or an MOU, Neil is your first contact at the AEMC. We want to hear your ideas and, where possible, support your work.
Research partnerships add depth to our analysis, transparency to our process, and diversity to our thinking. Most importantly, they help build the next generation of energy thinkers and doers across academia, government and industry.
If you’re exploring consumer energy, distribution pricing, or the evolution of system services, talk to us. Whether it’s an informal exchange, a working paper, or something more formal, we want to work with you.
Together, we thrive
As I’ve shared today, my journey—from engineering to finance to psychology and policy—has taught me that good decision-making starts with curiosity, continues with humility, and is strengthened by collaboration.
At the AEMC, we’re applying that mindset to the challenges of our time. Whether it’s redesigning pricing frameworks, rethinking the role of gas, or reshaping markets, our work is grounded in evidence, shaped by experience, and enriched by partnership, especially with the research community.
Our strategic narrative is not just a guide—it’s an open invitation. Because the best ideas rarely come from one place alone. They emerge when we share knowledge, challenge assumptions, and combine perspectives.
So I’d like to end with another Maori proverb:
‘Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.’
‘With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.’
In other words, it is through shared effort—through pooling our knowledge, experience, and commitment—that we can deliver an energy future that works for all Australians.
Thank you.