Jenny Selway

Chief Executive Officer, Heavy Industry Low-Carbon Transition Cooperatives Research Centre (HILT CRC)

Jenny Selway has over 20 years’ experience as an engineer and non-executive director, with expertise in decarbonisation and the energy transition. She is currently the CEO of the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre (HILT CRC), a collaborative venture that brings industry, universities and government organisations together to identify, accelerate and de-risk decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry. Prior to this, Jenny worked across the energy industry at the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), where she focused on increasing renewable penetration in the Victorian transmission network, and at ExxonMobil, specialising in international joint venture and asset management. She is also currently a non-executive director at Gippsland Water. Originally graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Science, Jenny is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of Engineers Australia. She has completed an Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School and postgraduate studies into Climate Change Policy at the Australian National University.

Keynote presentation and synopsis:

De-risking green iron and steel – cooperative research and policy levers

For Australia’s green iron and low-emissions steel opportunity to be realised, low-carbon process routes must be de-risked quickly enough for investment decisions. For this to happen, we need concerted industry-research collaboration and enabling policy settings. This presentation looks through the lens of HILT CRC at the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) model as a vehicle for achieving these objectives.

Examples of HILT CRC research in this area include de-risking flash reduction and electric smelting furnaces for Australian ores; clean-energy integration for continuous operations; and insights into policy and market barriers and enablers for a green iron industry. Critically, HILT CRC projects are structured to progress beyond laboratory outcomes to support pilots and demonstrations that provide evidence for scalability, validate performance and cost assumptions, and build the confidence needed to move new technologies toward commercialisation.

The presentation also examines green iron/steel-relevant elements of the Australian Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda: targeted green-metals support through ARENA’s Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, the Green Iron Investment Fund, and the Guarantee of Origin scheme.

Together, these examples give cause for optimism that Australia can develop a globally competitive green iron industry and continue to be a major iron ore exporter in a decarbonised world.