Western Power Head of Major Customer Decarbonisation Carla Basden’s outstanding leadership and strong proactive engagement with major industry was recognised nationally with the Energy Networks Australia’s Women in Networks Award last night.
Carla and her team are responsible for connecting large-scale generation and load customers, managing the relocation of existing infrastructure and working with customers in progressing investment that underpin Clean Energy Link transmission expansion.
They proactively engage across industry to understand medium and long-term energy plans, informing network transition strategies and planning for one of the world’s largest islanded electricity grids.
This work is having a transformative impact on the decarbonisation of Western Australia as the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) is key enabler to generation and industry emissions reduction. The current Clean Energy Link – North project is unlocking over 1GW of additional renewable generation capacity in the Mid West region.
Three other Western Power colleagues were nominated as finalists in the Australian Institute of Energy WA awards last night, with:
- Ben Bristow, Head of Grid Transformation for the Energy Professional of the Year award,
- Karma Yangzom, Housing Growth Program Project Manager for Young Energy Professional of the Year award,
- Kirsty Champion, Managing Counsel for the Leading Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Energy award.
All nominees were acknowledged for their professionalism and contributions to the energy industry.
“Having a diverse, engaged and forward-thinking workforce is so important to us at Western Power, and our people are the key to future-proofing and innovating the way we build our network for the future” CEO Sam Barbaro said.
“I’m immensely proud of all the Western Power nominees, and the recognition of Carla Basden for her exceptional leadership and accomplishments in the sector is fantastic.
“All of our nominees are a testament to the hard work, initiative and passion we strive for at Western Power, and I thank them for their contribution to our organisation, our network and, by extension, the community of Western Australia.”
