Windfall

Although climate change is increasingly receiving its share of media attention, until quite recently many have been in denial, thinking the phenomenon was something concocted by alarmists, tree huggers and opportunists. But not Mark Kelleher CPA, the managing director of Roaring 40s, one of the leading renewable energy companies in Asia and Oceania.

'We knew it [climate change] was going to be a real test for Australia. We knew five years ago,' Kelleher, 49, explains. 'That's why we're in this space.'

The lifeblood of Roaring 40s is wind. Whether blasting up from the Antarctic to turn the turbines on Woolnorth Wind Farm on the north-west coast of Tasmania, or gusting across the plains and mountain ranges of China's Jilin province, it is clean, elusive wind that has powered Roaring 40s' heady journey.

Headquartered in Hobart, and with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Mumbai, Roaring 40s was formed in 2005 when the wind division of Hydro Tasmania joined with 50/50 venture partner China Light and Power, a Hong Kong-based utility with a market cap of US$14-15 billion.

Kelleher usually talks in terms of 'we' when referring to Roaring 40s' achievements such as the fact that it has 13 sites in operation in Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and Mainland China, where its 1000MW project near Baicheng has been mooted as one of the world's biggest.

Yet the Tasmanian-born-and-raised Kelleher has been instrumental in the company's continuing success.

After earning his commerce degree at the University of Tasmania, Kelleher joined the finance department of Telstra. He was in telecommunications for about 12 years, working his way to become state financial controller before being lured to Tasmania Hydro. It may have been an old player in one of Australia's smallest markets, but it seemed to be going places.

Joining the utility in a finance capacity, Kelleher moved into corporate management, which in addition to offering a much broader suite of responsibilities, provided the chance to attend the Company Directors' Institute and the London School of Economics Senior Executive Program.

A segue into a business development role in 2001 arrived at a pivotal time, just when the Kyoto Protocol was beginning to be discussed and the Australian federal Government was contemplating renewable energy targets.

Embracing the concept of wind energy seemed like a no brainer. Over three years Hydro Tasmania's wind division was spun off from the main company, set up test turbines in several sites, and developed projects in Tasmania and South Australia.

Things changed abruptly in 2004. 'The Howard government basically took the wind out of our sails, so to speak, by not developing that policy,' says Kelleher, who realised the immediate outlook for the fledgling company in Australia had little promise.

'It was hugely disappointing,' Kelleher says of the decision, 'particularly because wind power worked so effectively.'

Roaring 40s was forced to look elsewhere for business. In late 2004 Kelleher attended a major renewable energy conference in Beijing, 'and found that it was going to be pretty big everywhere else other than Australia'.

Key country targets were identified, with China emerging as the leading candidate. Over the next year Kelleher's team did market assessment, developed policy and rolled out a road show to attract potential strategic partners, with China Light and Power thought to be the most suitably matched.

In October 2005, Roaring 40s was born. That same week the company signed its first joint venture project with a mainland China partner, China Datang Corporation, to develop, build and operate its first wind farm in the energy-hungry country.

A month before this, Roaring 40s featured in one of three business agreements signed by Wu Bangguo as part of China's National People's Congress visit to Australia.

'All of that in combination got us off to a fantastic start, both in terms of new business and our profile,' Kelleher says. 'It gave us a high degree of credibility in the Chinese market. We found that we had people knocking at our door saying, 'Well you've done a joint venture with them, come and do one with us'.'

Joint agreements with other major partners quickly followed. 'In the last two years, we've been on a very fast train,' Kelleher says. 'We've now got 10 projects in various stages.'

And an extremely promising future. What was mooted as a 2 per cent mandatory renewable energy target for Australia has become 20 per cent, of which 7 per cent will be hydro. 

'Most of the rest will be wind, because it's by far the most mature, commercially viable renewable energy source,' Kelleher says. 'Others will emerge over time. Geothermal will have its day. Solar ultimately will be a very major player. But they're all many, many years out.'

Kelleher says a talented team, an ability to cultivate contacts, considerable groundwork, strategic vision and luck have all played a role in Roaring 40s' ascendancy.

Yet he believes a willingness to understand partners' cultural and business differences has been a pivotal area of success. 'We've gone into [partnerships] deliberately with a view of not saying, "This is how we do things."' But rather saying, 'How do you do things? What are your constraints?'

'Then we explain what we need to do to achieve things, and together how we can match that. The philosophy has been "two ears and one mouth", and to use them in that proportion.'

Out of hours

What keeps you awake at night?
Not much. Given a lot of overseas travel and changing time zones I have learnt to sleep whenever I can!

What are you reading at the moment?
I've just finished the latest Christopher Koch book The Memory Room, following another spy book The Meirnik Dossier by the largely undiscovered Charles McCarry, and am about to start Ronnie Wood's (from the Rolling Stones) autobiography.

How do you relax?
Although it sounds like an oxymoron I have a pretty active relaxation program. I like reading and going to the movies, I play royal tennis, the guitar and chess. And I like eating out at restaurants or cooking at home with my wife and friends. I'm chairman of Tasdance, Tasmania's highly regarded contemporary dance company. In recent years we have also taken to having a major holiday in remote places, last year was to the Arctic Circle (far north Canada and Greenland) on a Russian research vessel to see at first hand the impact of climate change up there.

Reference: April 2008, volume 78:03, p. 20-23