CSIRO appoints new energy director

The CSIRO has announced that Dr Dietmar Tourbier has been appointed Director of Energy following a competitive international recruitment search.

Dr Peter Mayfield, CSIRO’s Executive Director for Environment, Energy and Resources, said Tourbier’s appointment comes at a critical juncture for Australia and CSIRO in particular.

“Australia’s energy transition to achieving net zero emissions is one of the most pressing research and technological challenges that confronts us,” he said. “Dr Tourbier’s deep industry knowledge and strong networks will help ensure CSIRO’s technological innovations can be expediently deployed to help drive emission reductions across a range of sectors at scale.”

Tourbier worked at General Electric (GE) for over 20 years leading research teams as part of its Global Research organisation, before relocating to Australia. He led up to 200 researchers and held leadership roles at GE’s solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) division in California, the global power electronics technology research group and GE’s European research division.

More recently, during his tenure as Director of the Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI), he brought together a team of research organisations and successfully engaged industry partners to incorporate technologies developed under ASTRI.

Tourbier attained his PhD in aerospace engineering in the United States. He brings more than 20 years’ international experience across multiple research domains in the energy and fuels space.

As CSIRO Energy Director based at Clayton, Victoria, he will lead a team of more than 270 staff including researchers, working towards developing technologies in support of Australia’s transition to net zero.