The Green Power Changemaker - Lillian Patterson

“It's great to have a different perspective to bring to energy problems and issues, as well as to clients and relationships,” she says.

“I thrive on connecting with our clients to understand their challenges and working with our team to figure out how we can solve those challenges in new and innovative ways to deliver great outcomes for their projects.”

Building a more diverse and inclusive sector

“Diversity and inclusion bring innovative thinking, which strengthens our teams and benefits our clients,” explains Lillian.

“A critical factor in building greater inclusion and belonging is visibility,” she says. “It's very hard to see what your career might look like when you don't see senior people who look like you. I have often looked for female leaders and not found them,” she says. “I’d really like to be that female leader who can help diversify the industry and inspire other women in our sector.”

As a mother, Lillian is also keen to show that it’s possible to achieve career progression and balance leadership roles with family commitments – one doesn’t have to be at the expense of the other.

Lillian says that gender is only the first step in a process that must also extend to cultural background, age, identity, ability and all the ways in which people differ.

Lillian explains that businesses that want to build diversity and inclusion should be prepared to invest in people who may not be able to hit the ground running immediately but “will be brilliant in a few months with the right support.”

For the best results, businesses should work to ensure that the right pathways are in place for retention and career development.

Tackling the challenges of an expedited transition

Australia’s energy transition faces huge challenges in regards to scale and speed. The sector needs to deliver 6 GW of new large-scale generation every year to 2030 to meet clean energy targets.

“We know that there is a real need for speed, not just from a climate change perspective but also from the perspective of the reliability of the system,” explains Lillian. “It’s concerning that in 2023 we saw a significant slowdown in the number of large renewable projects that were financially closed and didn’t get close to the 6 GW that we need each year from now on.”

She lists a lack of fit-for-purpose grid infrastructure, slow planning and environmental approval processes, higher costs associated with global supply chains, and the tight labour market as headwinds to the roll-out of the transition.

New opportunities for the sector

Lillian observes that the renewables industry has struggled through many years of policy uncertainty but the current strong commitment and alignment across all levels of government gives cause for optimism. “Our industry has an unprecedented opportunity to capitalise on this drive to deliver, such as with the momentum towards delivering storage and an offshore wind industry,” she says.

Lillian believes that another crucial area of opportunity for the sector is greater First Nations involvement, not only as part of the consultation process but also with real benefit-sharing and even ownership of projects. “We’re excited to see developers taking this on board in their community engagement,” she says, “and it is encouraging to see bodies being developed such as the First Nations Clean Energy Network to facilitate a greater voice for First Nations communities in the energy transition.”

An exciting time for renewables at WSP

Although Lillian’s team has a great deal of expertise in renewable energy and storage projects across Australia, they also leverage our global reach and experience in areas such as offshore wind, which are new to Australia. We can cover the whole spectrum of services from planning and feasibility right through a project’s lifecycle, and across all aspects including the commercial, technical, social and environmental. WSP’s international scale is a great advantage for the team and clients alike.

Discuss your large renewable energy projects with Lillian Patterson.