Dr. Alexander Klimenko
The University of Queensland, Australia
Seminar Information
Technological development is neither continuous nor monotonic. We are witnessing yet another
technological surge, which is largely associated with a transition to renewable sources of energy.
Australia, with its abundant land, solar and wind resources, is projected to become one of the world
leaders in energy transition. While Queensland is deemed to become the main Australian renewable
hub in the long run, the energy transformation began in another Australian state -- South Australia.
The state of SA has an autonomous electrical grid with limited energy imports achieving penetration of
renewables approaching 100% during lengthy periods of time (above 85% for the last month). In
addition, Australia has a very flexible wholesale electricity market with auctions taking place every 5
minutes, which seems to be unique in the world.
This presentation will examine problems associated with the transition to renewables. While the issue
with short-time (seconds) instabilities has been resolved, the longer disbalances remain and are
reflected in highly volatile, intermittent prices. This creates a good case for different forms of energy
storage, which can be expected to be economically effective over characteristic times of several hours.
The presentation will argue that, despite its low round-trip efficiency, hydrogen is to become a
necessary component of renewable energy production in the long run. Here we refer to hydrogen and
its derivatives: LH2, ammonia, methane, methanol, etc. Different variations of chemical energy storage
can be more suitable for different purposes: seasonal storage, transmission, export and transport.
California and Australia (especially Queensland) have similar compositions of renewable resources:
plenty of sun, modest wind, limited water and variable relief. The current thinking in Australia shifts
towards integrating different elements of energy production, storage and transport (e.g. integrated
energy hubs with optional hydrogen production) and finding optimal solutions for local conditions.
Alex graduated from a specialised (with advanced study of mathematics and physics) high school in Ukraine, joined a university in Moscow to study aircraft engineering (Soviet-style engineering, mixed up with theoretical physics and functional analysis), moved to Australia to pursue an academic career, worked first in The University of Sydney and then in The University of Queensland. He visited many times and/or held senior visiting positions at UCSD, Cornell, Stanford, University of Wyoming and KIT Currently, Alex is a Reader in Mechanical Engineering, holds a High Doctorate in Engineering, and has been elected a Fellow of Combustion Institute (inaugural class). Over many years, he led the Combustion and Multiscale Modelling Research Group at UQ and, from 2022, he serves as the Director of the Centre for Multiscale Energy Systems --- a centre dedicated to energy transition with around 50 members involved.
Dr. Klimenko’s contribution to science and engineering includes: introducing conditional (CMC, MMC, etc) and sparse-Lagrangian methods for turbulent combustion modelling, suggesting the 4/7 power law and IDFE methodology for turbulent premixed combustion, deriving the 4/3 power law of vortical motion subsequently detected in hurricanes, tornadoes and firewhirls, introducing principles of competitive thermodynamics and theory of leaping cycles in complex evolutionary systems, demonstrating that thermodynamic interference can lead to apparent CPT violations in CPT-preserving quantum systems. His recent interests are largely related to energy transition and hydrogen production.