Adjie Brotot

about me, the long version

I'm Adjie Brotosukmono.

An energy economics consultant and power system engineer from Indonesia, now living in Perth, Western Australia. Here is how a physics nerd from Indonesia ended up modelling power grids in Perth, in five stops.

Friends call me Adjie Brotot. Close friends just say “tot”.

Adjie Brotosukmono is an Indonesian senior economics consultant and power system engineer at Mott MacDonald in Perth, Western Australia, and a Professional Member of Engineers Australia. Adjie works on techno-economic modelling, electricity market and dispatch modelling, power system studies and project management for miners, system operators and renewable developers, mostly in Western Australia under the WEM Rules and the Pilbara Network Rules. Adjie holds a Bachelor's in Electrical Power Engineering and a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). Before Perth, Adjie taught physics online at Quipper and Pahamify, was a credit card product manager at Bank Central Asia (BCA), and was a power system engineer at Merz Consultancy, which merged into Mott MacDonald. Adjie writes at the Adjie Brotot Blog and builds free calculators at Adjie Brotools.

Stop 1 · Bandung, Indonesia

Electrical power engineering at ITB

It started with physics. Since junior high, I loved playing with formulas. Engineering felt like the obvious next step.

I went to Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and stayed for two degrees: a Bachelor's in Electrical Power Engineering and a Master's in Electrical Engineering. Both were funded by scholarships. I am still grateful for that.

My master's research asked a very practical question: how do you schedule coal power plants when coal deliveries are the bottleneck? It became a paper, Optimal Scheduling Algorithm for Coal-Powered Power Plants, Considering Coal Delivery Constraints.

I lived in the labs too. I coordinated the assistants of the power system engineering lab, guided students through power system analysis and high voltage practicals, and helped teach signals and systems, electrical materials and electromagnetics.

One thing at a time was never enough, so I also started a business. Ganeshtore sold books, tools and accessories to new students. We had a small team, a CFO included, and a cash flow and point-of-sale system I built on Google Sheets and Apps Script. It kept going, I learned a lot, and part of the profit went to charity.

Flat drawing of the Labtek Kembar at ITB, seen from Plaza Widya Nusantara: twin long buildings with stone pillars, white balcony bands, red steel struts and red-trimmed shingle roofs, a wide lower skirt below two pointed gables with dark latticed tips on the same centre line, a lower one on the end and a taller one rising behind it whose ridge runs the length of the building, either side of the campus axis with its rill, lawns, lamps and the round Kolam Intel with its ring of potted plants and disc sculpture, and Mount Tangkuban Perahu beyond

Side quests: saying yes to everything abroad

At uni I joined almost every exchange and youth summit I could.

  • Japan

    Scholarion Exchange

    A student exchange programme in Tokyo, Japan.

    Adjie with the Scholarion Exchange group in matching shirts, holding the programme banner outside a glass building in Tokyo
    The exchange group in Tokyo
  • Singapore

    ASEAN Young Leaders Program

    Spoke on stage to young leaders from across ASEAN, at the Singapore Institute of Technology.

    Adjie speaking at a podium of the Singapore Institute of Technology
    On stage at the Singapore Institute of Technology
  • Thailand (2x)

    Young ASEAN Leaders Policy Initiative

    Two rounds at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Our team handed over policy recommendations on environmental management.

    Adjie handing over a policy recommendations document at the Young ASEAN Leaders Policy Initiative
    Handing over our policy recommendations
  • South Korea

    30th International Youth Forum

    Seoul, with delegates, ambassadors and ministers, talking about inclusion and a shared global village.

    Delegates and hosts on stage at the 30th International Youth Forum in Seoul
    Opening day of the forum in Seoul
  • Cambodia

    ASEAN Young Leaders Program

    The ASEAN Young Leaders Program again, this time in Cambodia.

    Adjie and the ASEAN Young Leaders Program delegates with Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, around a meeting table
    With Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia
  • Philippines

    Hult Prize

    Our team pitched a social enterprise at the Hult Prize Manila Regionals, the student startup competition run with the United Nations.

    Adjie and three teammates in batik and black, posing in front of the Hult Prize Manila Regionals backdrop
    Our team at the Manila Regionals
  • Malaysia

    Research Engineer at E-Life Solutions Sdn. Bhd., Johor

    I dug through IEEE and IEC standards for ERMA, software for managing electromagnetic risk, and turned the research into its product requirements, flowcharts and screens. I also joined high voltage experiments at UTM's high voltage lab.

    A group of interns in front of the Innovation and Commercialisation Centre at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
    The intern crew at UTM's innovation centre, Johor

Stop 2 · Online classrooms

Teaching at Quipper and Pahamify

Before I even graduated, I was teaching. It was my first exposure to the corporate world. Surprisingly, it was also the first time I tried to climb it 😂

At Quipper I was an academic coach. I gave students one-on-one online consultations and weekly study plans, and ran webinars on getting into university. Many of my students kept coming back, which meant a lot to me.

At Pahamify I taught physics for university entrance exams, live and through self-study material. On Twitter I was @fisikaambis. Later I was trusted to lead the academic team.

As Academic Lead (a project manager, with more lesson plans) I led a team of teachers. We ran our learning products the agile way: videos, summaries, infographics, question banks, tryouts and live classes. I hired new teachers, planned the live classes and introduced a brainstorming framework that made our content better.

I never really stopped teaching. For years, on the side, I taught calculus, physics, Python and C++, thermodynamics and circuits to university students, prepared high schoolers for UTBK, SAT, ACT, A-Level and IB, and coached olympiad teams. I worked with Excelsis Learning Center, Kejarcita, Kabisa Education, Generasi Cerdas Indonesia, Schoters and several schools.

Stop 3 · Jakarta

Into the banking world at BCA

a quick detour: for one month I was a software engineer at CAD-IT Consultants, building a web app with ThingWorx to control and monitor IoT products. Then the bank called.

I joined Bank Central Asia (BCA), one of Indonesia's largest banks, as a Product Manager for credit cards.

It was a quite unique blend of IT x Finance x Project Management. I led credit card digital features from idea to launch, with a team of business analysts, developers and testers, reporting to the VP.

For every feature I ran the numbers first, financial projections and cost-benefit analysis, to win senior management's approval. Then I drew the system architecture, the data flows, the screens and the logic. Risk, compliance, legal, security and audit all had a say, and so did Bank Indonesia and the OJK, Indonesia's financial regulator. Outside the bank I worked with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, UnionPay and our technology partners.

I learned how money actually moves, and how much careful work it takes to keep it moving safely.

Adjie in a batik shirt next to the Mastercard logo
Visiting Mastercard
Adjie giving a thumbs up beside a large VISA sign
Thumbs up at Visa
Flat drawing of Bundaran HI in Jakarta: Menara BCA, the glass tower with a finned, curving face, its BCA sign, a pale spine and a curved glass crown rising to its mast, beside UOB Plaza and its sign, with the scalloped Hotel Indonesia and the Selamat Datang monument in its fountain in front

Stop 4 · Back to hard engineering

Power System Engineer at Merz, then Mott MacDonald

Then I missed the hard engineering. I joined Merz Consultancy, a Perth energy consultancy, as a Power System Engineer. I worked from Jakarta, alongside the managing director.

It was my first exposure to Australia: its grid, its rules and its mine sites. I ran power system studies in steady state, RMS and EMT with DIgSILENT PowerFactory, and automated them through its API. I modelled dispatch, analysed energy market data, advised on renewable investments and optimised designs, sometimes deterministically, sometimes stochastically. When the software we had could not do what we needed, I helped write our own, in C, C++ and Python. And yes, I visited sites.

Then Merz merged with Mott MacDonald, a global engineering consultancy. Same desk in Jakarta, more project management, and bigger projects.

Projects as a Power System Engineer

  • WAEssential system services headroom studyFor Pilbara ISOCo in the North West Interconnected System. I built and validated the dynamic model and scripted the search for the least headroom that holds the frequency.
  • NTDarwin-Katherine generation portfolio optimisationThe least-cost mix of solar and batteries, from our own optimiser. It became the economic basis of the business case for the Darwin Renewable Energy Hub.
  • TASPower factor correction at Bluestone Mines TasmaniaSized and placed a capacitor bank for an underground tin mine, after a trip underground. It is now in operation.
    Adjie and a colleague in Merz hi-vis jackets, hard hats with cap lamps and safety glasses at a site office
    Site visit: hard hat, cap lamp, hi-vis. All mandatory.
  • WAHarmonic filters and transformer energisationFilter design for TransAlta St Ives Wind Farm and Cunderdin Solar Farm, and an EMT inrush study for St Ives.
  • SoftwareEGPO and WEMulatorLead developer of both: a generation portfolio optimiser, and an emulator of the WEM dispatch engine that we used for the Collgar Wind Farms constraint study.
  • WAEnergy balancing and settlement engineMy first project as Project Manager, for Pilbara ISOCo. Delivered within budget and still in use.
  • Other studiesQuenda Wind Farm WA, APA Wallumbilla in Queensland QLD, Norton Gold Fields WA, TransAlta Mt Keith WA, a wind farm pre-feasibility for Blue Power Engineering WA, Formosa 2 Wind Farm in Taiwan TW, PSCAD and PSS®E scripting for the NEM Software, and support to Energy Policy WA on the power system security and reliability standards WA.
A simple single line diagram: a wind farm, a solar farm and a battery on a 132 kV bus, a transformer down to a 33 kV bus feeding a mine and a town. As you scroll, a day goes by: the arrows speed up, slow down and turn round as the power flows change, the battery charges at noon and discharges at night, and the wind farm trips for an afternoon tripped! wind solar battery charging 132 kV 33 kV mine town 12:00

Stop 5 · Perth, Western Australia

Senior Economics Consultant at Mott MacDonald

Then I relocated to Perth as an Economics Consultant. Not the fiscal and monetary policy kind of economist: this is techno-economics, still very technical, where the power system and the money go into the same model.

how I got the job

In Australia, an employer has to advertise a job locally before it can hire someone from overseas. My boss wrote the listing for exactly the person they wanted: a power system engineer who had also worked in finance and banking.

Luckily, that sounded a lot like me. I'm still grateful they took the chance.

Projects as an Economics Consultant

  • WAEssential system services headroom study, the next roundActing Project Manager: I designed the study, wrote the scripts and trained junior engineers to run them. Pilbara ISOCo used the report for its procurement.
  • WASynchronous condenser placement and optimisationAn RMS study for PWR Hybrid's Mount Magnet operations, as Project Manager.
  • NTDarwin-Katherine generation portfolio optimisationCarried the optimisation modelling through to the end.

Now I'm a Senior Economics Consultant. I do the commercial and the technical work: project and bid management, strategic advice for the energy industry, techno-economic modelling and power system analysis. Clients include miners, system operators and renewable developers, mostly in Western Australia.

Now, as a Senior Economics Consultant

  • WAEssential system services headroom study, round threeProject Manager this time, with junior engineers running the simulations.
  • WARed Gully and Paterson batteriesTechnical advice, connection and cable studies for BLT Energy's Red Gully BESS, which passed development approval, then Western Power steady-state studies for it and TagEnergy's Paterson BESS.
  • WAUnder-frequency load shedding investigationFinding the root cause of the UFLS incidents in the North West Interconnected System, from the data and interviews with the system operators.
  • WANWIS Access and Connection GuidelineA guideline, with templates, to make connecting easier for future applicants. Now out for public consultation.
  • WAGrid connection strategy and solar adviceFor GreenWind's Ambrosia and Mahogany Wind Farms, and solar benefits and tariffs for DevelopmentWA's Australian Marine Complex.

I work with the rulebooks every day: the WEM Rules and WEM Procedures, the Pilbara Network Rules and the NWIS Harmonised Technical Rules, with some time in the NEM. I'm a Professional Member of Engineers Australia.

My favourite part is the people. I help graduate engineers and interns build energy models from scratch in Python and C++: security-constrained economic dispatch, renewables and battery investment decisions, whole-of-life asset management. With a bit of vibe-coding with generative AI, of course.

It has been years since then. I am a mate now. I still cannot eat Vegemite.

Map of Indonesia and Australia with a dotted flight path and a plane flying from Jakarta to Perth as you scroll, and a kangaroo hopping about near Perth INDONESIA AUSTRALIA Jakarta Perth

Badges collected along the way

and now?

Outside the day job

I write about money, engineering and life on my blog, in English and Bahasa Indonesia. I build free tools for the sums I keep doing anyway, from renting versus buying a house to power system load flow.

I love planes, trains and travelling. You might have guessed that from the homepage. I speak Bahasa Indonesia and English, and a little Chinese, Japanese, Russian and French.

A few trips since

Adjie in a fur hat and face mask, making a peace sign in front of the ice sculptures and the big wheel at the Harbin Ice and Snow World
Harbin, China
Adjie with arms wide open at the top of the ancient theatre of Hierapolis, above the stage ruins
Pamukkale, Turkiye
Adjie on skis in falling snow, raising a ski pole with a thumbs up, chairlift behind
Hokkaido, Japan
Adjie smiling in a Singapore Airlines First Class suite, with a meal served at the seat by the window
Singapore Airlines, First Class
Adjie leaning on a sandstone wall across the water from the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
Sydney, Australia
Adjie leaning on an old US Army tank, with a helicopter and another tank on display behind
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Quick answers

Who is Adjie?

Adjie Brotosukmono, Adjie for short and Adjie Brotot to friends, is an Indonesian senior economics consultant and power system engineer at Mott MacDonald in Perth, Western Australia, and a Professional Member of Engineers Australia. Adjie studied at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), with a Bachelor's in Electrical Power Engineering and a Master's in Electrical Engineering, and has also worked in online education and as a credit card product manager at Bank Central Asia (BCA).

What does Adjie Brotosukmono do at Mott MacDonald?

Adjie is a Senior Economics Consultant in Perth. The work combines techno-economic modelling, electricity market and dispatch modelling, power system analysis, and project and bid management, for miners, system operators and renewable developers, mostly in Western Australia. Adjie joined Mott MacDonald when Merz Consultancy, where Adjie was a power system engineer, merged into it.

What projects has Adjie Brotosukmono worked on?

In energy, as a power system engineer: essential system services headroom studies for Pilbara ISOCo; generation portfolio optimisation for the Darwin-Katherine Electricity System; power factor correction for Bluestone Mines Tasmania; harmonic filter design for TransAlta St Ives Wind Farm and Cunderdin Solar Farm; an energy balancing and settlement engine for Pilbara ISOCo; the EGPO portfolio optimiser and the WEMulator dispatch model; and studies for the Collgar, Quenda and Formosa 2 wind farms. As an economics consultant: synchronous condenser placement for PWR Hybrid's Mount Magnet operations; connection studies for the Red Gully and Paterson batteries; the investigation of under-frequency load shedding incidents in the North West Interconnected System; the NWIS Access and Connection Guideline; and grid connection and solar advice for GreenWind and the Australian Marine Complex. In banking, at BCA: contactless cards, card tokenisation, in-app card features and BCA's own mobile wallet.

Where did Adjie Brotosukmono study?

At Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in Indonesia: a Bachelor's in Electrical Power Engineering and a Master's in Electrical Engineering, both on scholarships. The master's research was on optimal scheduling of coal-powered power plants under coal delivery constraints.

Are Adjie Brotools and the Adjie Brotot Blog made by the same person?

Yes. Adjie Brotools (tool.adjiebrotots.com), the Adjie Brotot Blog (blog.adjiebrotots.com) and adjiebrotots.com are all made by Adjie Brotosukmono, who also goes by Adjie Brotot.

How can I contact Adjie Brotosukmono?

By email at [email protected], or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/adjiebrotot.