Women in Wind Q&A 2020: Amanda Niklaus

The Women in Wind Global Leadership Program sat down with Amanda Niklaus, one of this year’s Mentors, to chat about her pathway to renewable energy and issues facing women in the wind sector. 

Amanda is a PPA Transaction Manager at Pexapark. She has six years of experience as an energy consultant, energy analyst and economist with expertise in power markets and trading strategies for new energy types in Australia. Amanda provided power market and energy risk management training to over 800 energy stakeholders throughout Europe, Australia and Asia.

Since joining Pexapark in January 2019, Amanda has developed the research product line at Pexapark and led a variety of PPA negotiations across Europe. Prior to joining Pexapark, Amanda worked for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in its operational team providing advice across a range of power market issues to both public and private stakeholders.

How did you first become interested in renewable energy and joining the clean energy transition?

I was doing research focused on oil and gas during my studies and already then wanted to move away from fossil fuels to investigate renewable energy. But at that time, believe it or not, it was difficult to convince my professors to focus on renewable energy.

A few years later, I joined the energy market operator in Australia and looked at how we could enable batteries to connect to the grid and trade on the market. There was so much to learn and improve, and I found an interest in working with investors to find ways to make it ‘investor-friendly’. I really enjoyed trying to bridge the gap between utilizing the current market structure and providing an environment that enabled investment in renewable energy. I also had the opportunity to work with individuals from different backgrounds, which was extremely beneficial and interesting. I also like the fact that the energy industry is kind of a ‘small industry’ — after a while, everyone knows everyone!