How Brisbane Became a Key Meeting Point for the Energy Transition

Queensland’s Energy DNA

Few places combine geography and ambition quite like Queensland. Stretching over 1.8 million square kilometres, the state is both Australia’s most decentralised and its most resource-rich. It is also one of the world’s most weather-exposed energy systems struck by cyclones, floods and bushfires that test its grid regularly. Workforce readiness and supply chain resilience are critical enablers here. The state’s dispersed population and vast geography make reskilling, electrification and logistics coordination essential components of the state’s transition journey.

Yet what might look like volatility from the outside feels more like experience to those who live it. “We are a state that loves big infrastructure. We love big projects. My background is in coal and gas, so I know what it takes to get large developments going and we’re applying that same discipline to renewables,” says Katie-Anne Mulder, Chief Executive of the Queensland Renewable Energy Council (QREC).

Queensland’s size and diversity make it a testing ground for the next generation of energy systems. It leads globally in rooftop solar adoption, is home to some of Australia’s largest battery and wind developments, and has a government that recognises that “transition” must include both stability and regional prosperity. The Energy Roadmap sets a course for net zero by 2050, backed by massive investments in transmission, generation, storage and workforce development.

The Energy Roadmap

The state’s Energy Roadmap, unveiled in October 2025, comes as a testament to this. It commits to 4.3 GW of new short-duration battery storage by 2030, complemented by another 4 GW of medium-duration assets by 2035. While it stops short of setting hard closure dates for coal-fired stations, it offers something investors arguably value more: clarity about sequencing. “It’s a market-driven approach,” Mulder explains. “Government sets the framework, but it’s industry that delivers.”

Nationally, programmes like Powering Australia (A$23 billion) and Rewiring the Nation (A$20 billion) complement Queensland’s efforts by modernising grids and unlocking new corridors for renewable investment.

The realistic approach of the roadmap reflects Queensland’s industrial history. This is a state that understands project finance and risk, that has spent decades mastering large-scale logistics and stakeholder engagement. It is also the state where the global energy conversation is increasingly taking place in person through a growing calendar of high-impact meetings at BCEC.

BCEC, A Venue with a Strategic Agenda

The venue has over time evolved from hosting conferences to being a valuable partner in advancing industries. Nestled in South Bank and powered in part by its own solar array, the Centre has earned a reputation for pairing operational excellence with strategic intent. In recent years, its focus has shifted more towards energy, resources, technology and sustainability.

Events such as Solar & Storage Live Australia, Critical Minerals Conference, and the Asia-Pacific Hydrogen Conference have all taken place in Brisbane, leveraging BCEC’s infrastructure and its network of partners in government, academia and industry. The Centre is the lead project manager for the Australian Institute of Energy’s bid to host the World Energy Congress 2030 in Brisbane, which will firmly place the city at the heart of global energy diplomacy, ready to host the Olympic Games in 2032.

“A meeting can do what bilateral calls take years to do,” Mulder says. “You bring investors, engineers, communities and policymakers into one room, and suddenly you have momentum.” That “momentum” is measurable. Conferences held at BCEC are increasingly expected to leave a legacy: regional training programmes, pilot collaborations, procurement linkages. The goal has moved from just seeking financial gains to acquiring new skills and changing policies.

Technology, Minerals & Modernisation

But the discussion of “transition” goes side by side with supply chains. Queensland’s advantage lies not only in sunlight and space but also in materials. It is home to vanadium, copper, zinc and other metals critical to next-generation batteries. The first vanadium redox flow battery manufacturing facility in Australia has opened in Townsville, reinforcing the state’s mining know-how in clean-tech industries. “We have to move past lithium-only thinking,” Mulder notes. “Different chemistries, different applications; that’s where resilience comes from.”

These advances are supported by Brisbane’s universities and research institutes, which collaborate with industry on grid stability, decarbonisation and advanced manufacturing solutions.

The circular economy is another emerging strength. Copper, she points out, is infinitely recyclable and retains almost all its conductive properties after refinement. “Almost every piece of copper ever mined is still in use. That’s the kind of efficiency our industry needs to emulate.”

Wind and solar continue to dominate project pipelines, but attention is turning to the supporting architecture: long-duration storage, recycling systems, community-scale batteries and, crucially, transmission. Australia’s $20 billion Rewiring the Nation plan is helping build the transmission links needed to unlock more renewable energy.

Furthermore, as Brisbane is home to PsiQuantum, developer of the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer, a new dimension is emerging in the conversation about energy demand. The electrification needs of future computing, data storage and AI-driven industries add another dimension to how Queensland plans for reliable, future-ready energy.

Communities in the Transition

No one understands the human dimension better than those who have seen what major projects can do to regional economies. Mulder recalls how the coal seam gas boom transformed Western Queensland towns two decades ago: “Coffee shops on every corner, apprentices staying put instead of moving away. When you bring new industries into regional Queensland, you don’t just diversify the economy, you keep young people in their towns. You give communities a reason to grow again.That’s what a new industry can do.”

The state’s new First Nations Clean Energy Strategy reinforces this approach, ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities share directly in the economic and social benefits of renewables. But she is candid that renewables must earn the same legitimacy. “You can’t helicopter in a solar farm. You need trust. If ten trucks roll through a small town unannounced, you’ve lost the narrative.”

That is why BCEC and its partners are embedding legacy into the very design of events. Major congresses are now paired with regional roadshows before and after the main programme. The idea is for engineers and policymakers to travel into the field to meet farmers, councils and local businesses. On the other hand, regional representatives are funded to attend plenaries in Brisbane, making sure the conversation is not just about them, but with them. It is an approach that resonates with international associations looking to add measurable outcomes to their meetings.

Regional Lessons, Global Conversations

Queensland’s journey is not isolated. Japan, South Korea and Germany are long-standing energy partners, once focused on LNG and now moving towards hydrogen and green-ammonia collaborations. The World Energy Council’s recent Asia-Pacific session, held earlier this year, underlined a new need of interdependence. “We can’t do this alone,” Mulder insists. “Keeping our trading partners as partners in the new system is as much about trust as technology.”

Brisbane’s advantage is geographical as well as cultural. It is the closest Australian capital to the Pacific Islands, positioning it as a natural hub for regional cooperation. BCEC’s events attract delegations from across Oceania, South-East Asia and beyond, creating a bridge between developed-market expertise and emerging-market opportunity.

Through these global conversations, BCEC helps ensure that every international meeting leaves behind a tangible legacy: skills exchange, research partnerships, and community resilience projects across regional Queensland.

What Lies Ahead

The numbers tell a confident story. Queensland’s renewable share has climbed from 10% in 2018 to over 27% in 2024, with the state on track to hit 50% well before 2030. More than 54,000 renewable projects were completed between 2020 and 2023 – an output higher than any other Australian state. By 2035, over A$120 billion in combined public and private investment is expected to have flowed into Queensland’s clean-energy build-out.

Kym Guesdon, BCEC General Manager:

“Energy transition is a global challenge and Brisbane is stepping up as a meeting point for ideas and action. BCEC is proud to be at the centre of this dialogue, connecting innovators and decision-makers to drive progress. Every event here is an opportunity to influence policy, spark collaboration and position Queensland as a leader in sustainable energy.”

But numbers alone do not deliver transition; networks do. That is where BCEC’s convening power makes a difference. The centre’s team works hand-in-glove with Tourism & Events Queensland, the Brisbane Economic Development Agency and industry bodies like QREC to ensure that conferences become catalysts, places where discussions turn into projects.

Mulder sees the future as collaborative rather than competitive: “Energy isn’t about survival any more; it’s about how we thrive. Our two major primary industries – agriculture and resources – are still on the Queensland coat of arms. Renewables are an enabler of what will allow them to keep competing globally.”

To explore how your next congress can contribute to Queensland’s clean-energy legacy, visit www.bcec.com.au or contact Alison Gardiner from the BCEC team at alisong@bcec.com.au.