• Understanding of domestic and international energy issues and the risk scenarios
• Reducing risk from extreme price volatility, inadequate market design and shortages
• Strategies to reduce overall power costs and magnitude of price spikes 
• Success stories and lessons learnt from the US experience

• Hedging core business activities
• Developing hedging strategies for reducing risk vs. expected profits
• Implementing hedging strategies in markets with high volatility, poor liquidity and huge bid/offer spreads
• Developing long term contracting strategies to mitigate long impact of fluctuating and low prices

• Credit risk - why it should be measured and managed
• Trading with perceived credit concerns caused by parent companies in financial distress - unfortunately common in the Australian market
• Striking the balance between credit risk and market risk in an illiquid market
• Credit washing - risks and benefits
• Benefits arising from public ratings
• Case Study - NRG Energy and NRG Flinders

• The sequel to the "Bloodbath" scenario
• Emerging trends in the power generation sector
• Financial distress and exit theory

• Impact of market developments since de-regulation
• The risks for a generation company
• Managing risks through structural change
• Governments and regulators - some of the issues

• Risk scenarios facing Australia's energy sector over the next decade
• Strengthening the governance of energy markets
• Strategies for rule-making and market development
• Strategies for delivering secure, clean, affordable energy for Australia's future

• The problem of lack of rated counterparties and the limitations this poses for generators
• Addressing the need for a proper system of rating counterparties
• Developing frameworks for risk analysis and controls
• Determining the credit worthiness of counterparties
• Examining the relationship between increased counterparty risk and market trading
• Reducing exposure of industry participants to counterparty credit risk

Alexander Eydeland, Vice President and Head of Research, Mirant Corporation

Barry K Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy Association

Mark Williamson, General Manager Marketing & Strategy, NRG Flinders

• The value chain - available capacity, water in storage, physical delivery
• Sources of value - capacity and energy
• Valuing energy in storage
• Risk management options - physical vs financial
• Basis for evaluating extensions to the physical supply portfolio

• The importance of a liquid and transparent market in realizing maximum asset and business value
• Dispelling the myths of independent price reporting
• Creating effective trading strategies to address risks posed by illiquid markets

• The particular characteristics of energy markets
• Finding risk components for the VaR report
• Integrating market VaR and credit VaR
• From risk reporting to risk management

Barry K Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy Association, Chairman, US National Energy Foundation

• Managing regulatory risk
• Strategies to ensure fair and open competition for generators, retailers and wholesalers

• Strategies to regulate pricing and competition
• Ensure adequacy of supply through creating a robust and competitive market.
• Competition faced by generators, wholesalers, retailers and regulatory arrangements for safeguarding the same

• Rise in electricity prices - a step towards improving network infrastructure in NSW
• Challenge of failing to invest in demand management measures in the face of rising energy use
• Updates on reviews being carried out on distribution pricing in SA and QLD
• Accounting for the risks and complexities in energy industry
• Low return on investment a deterrent for future investment and reliability of services

• Is there a place for FTRs in the national energy market?
• Progress and inhibitions towards implementation of FTRs
• How FTRs can help curb volatile prices
• Benefits of leveraging FTRs

Stephen Weston, Manager Trading & Marketing, Hydro Tasmania

Stephen Kelly, Managing Director, National Electricity Code Administrator (NECA)

Barry K Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy Association

• What are the invisible risks?
• Dealing with risks in retail pricing
• Who is losing from too few retail regions?
• Who is paying for inadequate retail competition?

• New governance arrangements for the market
• Levels and volatility of spot market prices
• Initiatives to minimise and manage risk

• Pricing wholesale market risk
• Spot market volatility and market structure
• Behavioural impact of contract supply/demand balance
• Trends in trading liquidity and contract liquidity
• Portfolio optimisation ? multiple equilibrium?
• The role of generation in managing retail wholesale risk

• Identifying issues surrounding regulatory risks
• Analysing plant and transmission availability risks
• Discussing strategies for risk mitigation
• Pass-through or pricing?
• Understanding the legal and operational issues in the energy sector
• Determining valuation and accounting issues

• Techniques for modelling power market prices
• Pricing options in the power markets
• Standardising trading instruments
• Pricing, modelling and managing power derivatives
• Developing valuation processes for power and weather derivatives

• The relationship between government policy and risk
• Progressive policy integration
• The risk in developing new energy technologies and projects

• Need for a truly national measure to support state-wide schemes
• Initiating measures to make greenhouse responses streamlined, coordinated and national in scope
• Emissions trading - discussing the government's decision to abandon all work on developing a greenhouse gas emissions trading regime
• Carbon credits - addressing the big unknown

Mark Fogarty, Executive Director, Sustainable Environment Development Authority

Julia Birch, Research and Policy, Business Council for Sustainable Energy