Peter Kilby is the Senior Grid Transformation Engineer at Energy Queensland. He is an up-and-coming leader in the world of standards, having completed the Standards Australia NEXTgen program and been awarded the 2021 Standards Awards Emerging Leader Award for his significant contributions to standardisation and demonstrated outstanding service in enabling Standards Australia to attain its objectives. So far in his career, he has contributed to revisions around distribution voltage regulation practices in South East Queensland.

Peter Kilby is a Senior Grid Transformation Engineer at Energy Queensland and is experienced in power systems engineering. He is skilled in distribution planning, substation design and renewable energy integration and has a particular passion for distribution voltage management and distributed energy resources (DER) integration.

Already instrumental in the world of standards, Mr Kilby has been integral in the revision of distribution voltage regulation practices in South East Queensland. He also co-developed the 230V Transition Implementation Strategy for Queensland, resulting in reductions in potentially hazardous overvoltage across the state and supporting continued integration of distributed solar PV  

Mr Kilby is a participating member on Standards Australia technical committees EL-042-06, IEC Documents review committee, and EL-042-03, Grid Connected Systems and Equipment.

He has made significant contributions to the revision of AS/NZS 4777.2:2020, where he co-chaired the testing working group, provided technical analysis and drafted clauses for committee consideration.

He was first drawn to standards development because his role at Energex (now Energy Queensland) required him to update voltage management practices to assist with the integration of residential solar PV inverters onto the distribution network. And for guidance, he worked closely with AS/NZS 4777.2:2015, Grid connection of energy systems via inverters, Part 2: Inverter requirements.

“Working with AS/NZS 4777.2, I saw incredible value in Australian Standards, so I decided to get involved,” Mr Kilby said.  

Mr Kilby joined Standards Australia’s 2019-2020 NEXTgen program, which kicked off before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has been somewhat of an impact, but in 2019, the NEXTgen participants were all able to meet in person and network,” Mr Kilby said.

"It was great to meet with like-minded professionals and see how standards benefit their industries, and thankfully, we were able to continue our program virtually."

The program presented an exciting opportunity to increase his understanding of standards and their development. And it has had a lasting impact on the direction of his career, as he continues to use his voice to shape Australian standards within his specific area of expertise. 

Mr Kilby has already been formally recognised for this monumental contribution to standards, taking home the Emerging Leader Award in 2021, alongside his peers Cath Chalmers and Taru Veijalainen.

At the time he was awarded Mr Kilby expressed, “not only was the Emerging Leaders award completely unexpected, to be awarded it jointly with Cath and Taru, two engineers who I admire and have enjoyed the privilege of working with is also a great honour.”

As a leader in the world of standards, Mr Kilby will continue to shape standards development and its impact on the electrotechnology industry.

Speaking on the importance of standards, Mr Kilby says “there’s no doubt that the power grid is a large complicated system which connects millions, if not hundreds of millions of devices and it's becoming more distributed as time goes on. Standards are vital as they provide a baseline framework everyone can understand.”

This understanding will help support the grid to work efficiently and cost-effectively, Mr Kilby explained.  

“It is only through contributions from people like Peter that we will be able to continue to have world class standards in Australia,” Adam Stingemore, General Manager, Engagement and Communications at Standards Australia.  

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