Gippsland Transform Expo

CoPower was inspired to attend the Transform Expo on Gunaikurnai country in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley on 13 – 14^th October 2023.  The Expo brought together locals, renewable energy industry representatives and community leaders from across Gippsland putting a spotlight on the region’s massive renewable energy opportunity.

CoPower was proud to provide a $1,500 sponsorship from our operations budget to help make this inaugural Expo take place in the Latrobe Valley, a region in transition which has proudly powered Victoria for many decades using its brown coal resource.

It was an incredible couple of days featuring inspiring panel discussions, a schools program and expo site enabling people in the community to learn more about the renewable energy projects on the horizon, how to get involved with and how to begin a career in the sector.

“It was so amazing to showcase renewable energy projects proposed for Gippsland, and to connect the community with the industry.  Transform Expo allowed our community to engage and understand the renewable energy industry and to discuss the jobs and career paths created by the many projects proposed” said Wendy Farmer, President of Voices of the Valley and Gippsland Organiser for Friends of the Earth. “The Transform Expo is just one example of how Gippsland is continuing to play an important role in the transformation of energy, which is a huge opportunity for our community.”

The exciting program was packed full of cutting-edge content covering everything from energy storage technologies to community power projects, worker’s stories and healthy hospitals. One of our most popular sessions was the Women in Renewables workshop. The energy industry has long been male-dominated, and this session highlighted the experiences of women leading the shift to renewable energy, and the need for the industry to create safe working environments and play a key role in addressing systemic challenges such as violence against women.

We congratulate the event organisers and CoPower co-owners, Friends of the Earth, and Voices of the Valley on putting together this important event.