Simon Emms - ElectraNet CEO a pivotal leader for South Australia's Energy needs

Meeting Simon was an absolute pleasure, we need strong executives to support the Energy sector and Simon is certainly that.

Simon is a long-term Executive with more than 30 years of experience within the Australian energy industry. He is a dynamic, results oriented, corporate leader with extensive knowledge across a range of infrastructure portfolios, including Network Operations, Maintenance, and new Major Projects.

In his previous role of Group Executive, Network Services, Simon managed a Capex budget of more than $300 million per year, and an annual Opex budget of approximately $50 million. Simon has been responsible for the successful delivery of major transmission lines to Oz Minerals’ Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines, synchronous condensers located on Yorke Peninsula and Robertstown, and the positive progress seen on the Eyre Peninsula Link (EP Link) and Project Energy Connect (PEC) transmission lines.

Simon has successfully navigated ElectraNet during a time of extensive industry change, predominantly brought about by the uptake of renewable energy technologies and he has successfully led the delivery of over $3 billion worth of substation and other transmission lines projects. He was appointed to the role of Incident Manager during the South Australian 2016 state-wide blackout and is an accomplished business negotiator, with a proven ability in resolving complex issues among many customer, industry and government stakeholders.

Simon holds an Honours Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Above all, Simon’s passion is coaching the next generation of energy industry professionals, inspiring them to reach their full potential.

There is a lot of knowledge passed on from Simon in this Tough Talk episode. Enjoy!