Energy

Improving our communities’ lives while preserving our environment remains a fundamental energy sector challenge: we must rethink how we source our heating, cooling, lighting, mobility and products made from petrochemicals through an orderly and well-planned transition.

The challenges to improve mental health can seem overwhelming – from insufficient services to lack of integration and difficulty navigating services for consumers, carers and families. It is essential to take a system-wide approach to action, including at the service level.

How can the energy sector meet changing citizen demands?

Energy policy and regulation

To bring you the best support available, we assemble and manage multi-disciplinary consortia to complement our offer with engineering, energy modelling, legal and other expertise.

Phillip Vrettakis, Principal

Our approach

Our team

Our work

Get in touch

Header image of wind turbines and solar panels

Nous stands ready to help you reshape the mental health system through:

Meet our energy experts

Tim Orton

Managing Principal & CEO

Tim is a sought-after strategist and the Managing Principal and CEO of Nous Group. He has led the business through 20 years of uninterrupted growth including expansion across Australia, the UK and now North America. Tim leads major transformation programs and is a trusted thought partner to executives in government, universities and the private sector.

Contact Nous Group to discuss how we can help your organisation meet changing energy consumer demands.

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Insight

Richard Bolt

Principal

Richard has joined Nous after a diverse career in public advocacy and government. He has led organisations ranging from a community-based advocacy group to one of the largest government departments established in Australia. His achievements include lead roles in national carbon and energy policy reform; driving technology innovation in energy, resources and agriculture.

Claire is a leading thinker in regulatory design and practice, governance and integrity management. She provides strategic and operational advice to government, regulators and businesses. She draws on her wealth of public sector leadership experience to help organisations align strategic planning and delivery, focusing on measuring outcomes.

Craig Knox Lyttle

Principal

Craig is a trusted adviser to organisations facing change. His focus is on helping government controlled and highly regulated organisations become more commercial and customer-focused through strategy and operating model transformation. These organisations include universities, utilities, government agencies and for-purpose organisations.

Stephen Petris

Principal

Stephen brings more than 20 years of experience working with senior leaders in environmental, primary industries and emergency management agencies in a range of areas of strategy, policy and organisational design. Previous roles include ‘head of strategy’ roles in the Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE) and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

Mateja Hawley

Director

Mateja has extensive experience managing complex analytical and digital projects, often characterised by comprehensive stakeholder engagement, in the government, education, utilities, health and resources sectors. Mateja has a background in both computer engineering and technology and innovation management.

Phillip Vrettakis

Principal

Phillip’s experience includes strategy development, business planning, business transformation and program delivery at a corporate and business unit level. He has a strong track record of designing and delivering strategic initiatives for client solutions – particularly in the energy sector and for regulated utilities.

Abigail Nduva

Director

Abigail has extensive experience in the public and private sectors in the UK and Australia. This includes service delivery service and operating model design, regulatory reform, evaluation and other work targeted at improving engagement and service of diverse end-users and employees. With over fifteen years of experience, Abby draws plans, manages and supports successful project delivery.

Claire Noone

Principal

Pathways to Net Zero: The challenge of decarbonising households

Pathways to Net Zero: The challenge of decarbonising business and industry

System planning and design

Engagement and co-design

Service redesign and integration

Monitoring and evaluation

As more people in more places seek to improve their quality of life, global demand for energy is increasing. At the same time, energy production and use must be transformed to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and to adapt to the change that is already locked in. Communities, companies and governments are increasingly committing to decarbonisation to drive a transformation that must be fair, stable and productive. This transformation of unprecedented complexity will require cooperation, innovation and leadership.

Pathways to Net Zero: The challenge of decarbonising households

Pathways to Net Zero: The challenge of decarbonising business and industry

Our Approach

Our People

Insight

insight

Seizing the opportunities from major changes in the NSW energy sector

INSIGHT

Seizing the opportunities from major changes in the NSW energy sector

REQUEST A BROCHURE

We unravel complexity and give practical advice to communities, companies and governments.

The net zero transformation that is now underway will change lives and landscapes like no policy has done before. It will need an unprecedented partnership of government, business and communities to make it effective and fair.

Richard Bolt, Principal

Norms

Practices

Structures

Families and communities: the interpersonal relationships between individuals and the social networks that can influence behaviours, and the relationships between the built environment in neighbourhoods and communities.

Organisations and services: the organisations and services that support people with complex mental health needs. These may be mental health-specific services, other health services, or social services such as housing or employment services. In Australia these can be delivered by the public, private or not-for-profit sector.

Social and policy environment: broader society, including the laws and policies (or lack of policies). Actions that influence this level include advocacy and awareness-raising.

Individuals: the characteristics of individuals that influence behaviour and risk factors, such as knowledge, attitudes, culture, values, gender age, economic status, goals and more.

Individual factors such as age, education, income, cultural background

Schools & workplaces

Family and community

Neighbour-hoods

Mental health services

Interpersonal relationships

Other health and social services and supports

Housing

State and Commonwealth agencies

Health, economic, education and social policies

Age, education, income, cultural background

Service providers need to consider the delivery of their services, with specific consideration to: • Lived experience and peer workers are central to the community mental health workforce • Wrap-around, holistic, integrated services, and service navigation are essential to achieving positive outcomes.

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Learn more about Richard

Learn more about Phillip

Learn more about Phlilip

Energy system transition Decarbonisation and net-zero policy Customer protections Regulatory oversight and evaluation Economic and data analysis

We developed a business case for investment in a new energy-intensive manufacturing precinct for the Department of Regional NSW. We conducted in-person stakeholder engagement and did market sounding and cost-benefit modelling to test potential outcomes from precinct investment options, ultimately presenting a business case for the investment.

Business case for the Narrabri special activation precinct

We are conducting an economic impact assessment of the Western Victoria Transmission Network to inform planning approvals. We are identifying effects on local communities, potential mitigation and benefit-sharing measures to strengthen the project’s social licence, and the broader impact on economies of Victoria and the rest of the National Electricity Market states.

Assessing the Western Victoria Transmission Network

We provided expert advice and drafting support to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for its development of NSW’s Electricity Industry Roadmap. Under the roadmap, several Renewable Energy Zones and associated infrastructure will be developed to replace four coal-fired power stations that are scheduled to close over the next 15 years.

Strategy and implementation advice to NSW on its electricity roadmap

In an Australian-first study, the Victorian Government engaged us and a GHD-led consortium to assess the potential for an offshore wind sector in Victoria. We underpinned our case with estimation of Victoria’s net zero energy demand, analysis of the likely land use and social licence impacts, and comparison of alternative large-scale options for decarbonisation.

Determining the potential of offshore wind in Victoria

Net Zero Australia is a multi-year collaboration to analyse in unprecedented detail various scenarios for Australia to achieve net zero by 2050. In a partnership with Melbourne, Queensland and Princeton Universities, we are leading work to assess options for mobilising decarbonisation investment and public support to complement the modelling.

Net Zero Australia collaboration unites academia, practitioners

We were engaged by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to develop an evaluation framework for the National Energy Analytics Research Program. We combined document review with consultation with the CSIRO, AEMO and the department to develop and test it. Our framework sets out program logic, data matrix, evaluation questions and an evaluation schedule.

Evaluation of national energy and efficiency gas programs

Our WORK

We have successfully applied this approach with many clients

VISION AND STRATEGY

Environment scanning and opportunity assessment Market entry and growth strategies Decarbonisation strategies Regulatory and funding support for net-zero investments

PLATFORM AND SERVICE DESIGN

OPERATION AND SYSTEM REDESIGN

SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Culture change and leadership development Workforce planning and digitisation Operating model design and implementation Data strategy and redesign

Policy position statements Government and industry collaboration forums Community engagement and consultation Industry engagement and consultation

Customer experience strategy and design Digital strategy and operating model Product design and commercialisation Digital asset management

Community and landowner engagement and benefit sharing Rights and involvement of traditional owners Land use and participation agreements Energy safety