Hugh Outhred has held academic positions at the University of New South Wales since 1973, including Presiding Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (2004 – 2007). He is presently an Associate Professor within the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at UNSW. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy.
Hugh was a Member of the National Electricity Tribunal (NET) from its inception in 1998 to 2006, when it was replaced by alternative regulatory arrangements. The NET was a quasi-judicial appeal body for the National Electricity Market, established under the National Electricity Law. He was also a member of the NSW Licence Compliance Advisory Board1 throughout its existence from 1997 to 2000.
Hugh Outhred has been a Fulbright Senior Fellow at the University of California Berkeley, USA and has held visiting positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, the Universities of London and Liverpool in Britain, the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Spain and Roskilde University Centre in Denmark. He has been a member of the Board of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy and an Associate Director of the Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems at UNSW.
Hugh’s main research and teaching interests are in the areas of sustainable energy and electricity industry restructuring. His current research includes the incorporation of voltage values into electricity market design, the integration of stochastic renewable energy resources into restructured electricity industries, the design of industry governance and regulatory arrangements and energy sustainability for remote communities.
Hugh has provided advisory and educational services for governments, non-government organisations, the electricity supply industry and private industry in Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. Since 1988, he has taught over 70 short courses on electricity industry restructuring in Australia, North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
In 1985 and 1986 Hugh Outhred worked on secondment to the Energy Authority of New South Wales as a special adviser on renewable energy and electricity industry restructuring. He also established and became founding Head of the Forecasting Branch with responsibility for demand forecasting and infrastructure planning.
While at the University of California Berkeley in 1993 and 1994, he co-authored a report on electricity industry restructuring for the California Energy Commission. In 1995 & 1996 he led a project for the Australian National Grid Management Council that undertook electricity-trading experiments to trial the proposed National Electricity Market trading rules prior to their formal implementation.
In 2000 Hugh worked on secondment to Murdoch University, contributing to the development of a new undergraduate course on renewable energy engineering. In 2001 and 2002 he was seconded to the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy as Product Executive, Grid-connected Renewable Energy Services, to lead a research program on grid-connected renewable energy resources.
Contact: Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets and School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications The University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets & School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications