Equip yourself with knowledge, skills and new connections to land the best outcomes for your community in the shift to renewable energy.
Join 150 rural and regional leaders from across Australia who are working at the heart of renewables and regional development, over two days in Toowoomba QLD.
This is your chance to share stories, lessons and experiences that have helped create and maximise opportunities, and limit risks, in the shift to renewable energy underway in our communities. Peer-to-peer learning and connection is at the core of this event.
Our inaugural summit was a huge success last year – you don’t want to miss this one.
We can’t wait to see you there.
The lack of recognition and support for rural and regional leaders in some places is hindering delivery and local value that can be created in the shift to renewables.
It’s not uncommon for rural and regional leaders working in local government, regional development and community organisations navigating large-scale renewable energy developments to express feelings of overwhelm and isolation. The sheer volume of information to digest and local development to coordinate – on top of business as usual – is massive, often without extra resources to handle the additional work.
After the success of our inaugural Regional Leaders Summit held in Newcastle NSW in August 2025, we knew we needed to hold a second event. Bringing leaders together to learn from each other’s work, laugh, eat and share in each other’s frustrations and wins was incredibly powerful.
We have designed this year’s Summit to be bigger and better, built in collaboration with our Regional Leaders Network and an advisory committee of experts working at the centre of Australia’s shift to renewables. Our hope is that this year's Summit will build confidence, networks, skills and understanding among those of us working at a practical level to see renewables deliver genuine benefits for our communities.
As a result, our regions will be stronger, more networked and better equipped to support communities through the challenges and opportunities associated with the shift to renewables.
The Summit is a workshop-orientated event for rural and regional leaders wanting to learn more about leading communities through significant large-scale renewable energy planning and development. You might be involved in:
- Local Government
- Elected representatives
- Staff from the executive team and relevant departments including economic development, strategic planning and community development
- Regional Development organisations
- First Nations organisations
- Community-based groups and associations involved in local decision-making or leadership around renewable energy developments
We’re aiming to attract 120 solutions-focussed and collaborative leaders who are actively leading their communities through significant large-scale renewable energy planning and development, across rural and regional Australia.
Additionally, we will invite a small, select number of representatives from federal and state government departments, industry bodies and active not-for-profits.
The Regional Leaders Summit is primarily a skills-building and discussion-focused network event. Attendance does not constitute individual or organisational endorsement of Summit themes or outcomes.
Our program will be full of practical workshops, case studies and open discussions, following Chatham House rules, led by people like you – rural and regional leaders – who are willing to share their stories of experimentation, success, lessons from failures, and everything in between. There will also be a number of expert presentations amongst the program.
Popular session topics last year included:
- Levers of influence for local government and community organisations
- First Nations engagement and benefit sharing
- Project development from an industry perspective
- State-based visioning and action workshopping
- Leadership for the energy shift
- Housing and workforce accommodation
- Benefit sharing
- Training and workforce
- Decommissioning and retirement age renewables
- Renewables and biodiversity
We will provide a full program closer to the event date.
Tickets include all Summit activities and fully catered meals:
- Tuesday 15 September 2026, 9am - 5pm plus evening canapes and drinks, 5 - 7pm
- Wednesday 16 September 2026, 9am - 3pm
The optional wind farm site tour on Thursday 17 September is an additional expense.
To keep the event as affordable as possible, we have created a tiered ticket pricing structure. Ticket categories should be selected based on the balance of
- Your organisation's ability to purchase tickets
- Local government area size and population, and
- The number of full time equivalent staff at your organisation.
Ticket tiers are exhaustible, so we appreciate your honesty with regards to appropriate ticket selection. The terms and conditions outlined below explain our policies around monitoring ticket selection and purchases.
We can accommodate a maximum of three people from each organisation.
This year we're exploring an optional third day wind farm tour on Thursday 17 September 2026. As well as allowing regional leaders to get a real feel for the infrastructure, the tour will allow participants to chat with developers, landowners, and local council representatives on site to learn how their journey progressed, and see the end result of a successful collaboration between stakeholders.
Please express your interest in the site tour by checking the relevant box when purchasing your Summit tickets.
We will synthesize and share general Summit themes to demonstrate the need for a better approach moving forward that centres regional leadership in local energy shifts. Only with your explicit consent, there will be opportunities during and post the event to be involved in media and government engagement around the themes of the Summit. The synthesis produced will be shared widely, including with attendees.
Check out the outcomes report from last year’s Regional Leaders Summit here.
To be announced. We’re finalising details with a great accessible venue in the heart of Toowoomba’s CBD. We’ll keep you posted.
RE-Alliance is offering financial support packages to a select number of rural and regional leaders, as we don't want cost to be a barrier. These packages can cover, or contribute to, accommodation, travel and ticket expenses. Please fill out this form if you would like to be considered for support to attend the event. Contact Thomasen at [email protected] if you’d like to discuss further.
To ensure the Summit's purpose is fulfilled, RE-Alliance reserves the right to:
- Monitor and query ticket purchases
- Refuse participation and refund tickets where we choose to do so. This could be for a number of reasons including ensuring a balanced geographic representation of participants or allowing more space for an underrepresented stakeholder group.
We know many stakeholders are interested in the event's outcomes and insights. We will synthesize and share these freely and broadly post event.
Host organisation
The Renewable Energy Alliance (RE-Alliance) is hosting the Summit, supported by an Advisory Committee made up of members from leading organisations in regional development, local government (represented by the Australian Local Government Association) and energy shift.
Summit supporters
RE-Alliance would love to hear from organisations who are interested in financially supporting rural and regional leaders to get to the Summit. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Thomasen Knight at [email protected].
Thank you to the WA Department of Energy and Economic Diversification – PoweringWA, VicGrid, TasNetworks, Essential Energy and the Clean Energy Council who supported participants to get to the 2025 Summit.