Building shared understanding and capability for a transforming grid
The Grid Transformation Masterclasses bring current and emerging energy leaders together to test assumptions, build system capability and examine the practical tensions involved in transforming a live grid.
About the Masterclasses
Building whole-of-system alignment requires leaders to understand the forces shaping different parts of the energy system, including perspectives beyond their immediate area of work.
The Grid Transformation Masterclasses create a collaborative space for participants from across policy, regulation, energy networks, retail, technology, consumer advocacy and research to explore these forces together.
Using systems thinking and strategic foresight, participants consider how rapid consumer-led change, emerging technologies and evolving expectations are reshaping the grid, and what this means for the decisions being made today.
The 2026 Masterclasses
The inaugural program included five collaborative sessions involving more than 100 current and emerging leaders from across Australia’s energy sector.
Participants identified the most powerful external pressures reshaping the system, including rapid growth in electricity demand from artificial intelligence, data centres and electrified transport, accelerating decarbonisation pressures and increasing consumer expectations of energy independence and control.
They also examined the technologies, capabilities and new ways of working that could help Australia navigate these changes, from vehicle-to-grid technology and virtual power plants to real-time system visibility, community energy and new approaches to planning and market design.
Building capability across the sector
The Masterclasses are designed to do more than share information. Participants are challenged to test assumptions, engage with contrasting perspectives and consider the energy system as a whole.
The process strengthens participants’ capability in systems thinking and strategic foresight, while building connections between established decision-makers and the emerging leaders who will help shape the next phase of Australia’s energy transition.
From the Masterclasses to the Summit
The questions, tensions and opportunities identified through the 2026 Masterclasses helped inform the design, content and focus of the inaugural Consumer Grid Summit.
A selection of Masterclass participants were also chosen by RACE for 2030 to attend the Summit, ensuring emerging leaders had a strong presence among the executive decision-makers of today and that we could build sector foresighting needed to navigate change.
Together at the Summit they developed shared visions for Australia’s electricity system in 2040 and identified the practical transition pathways required to get there.