Here’s how ‘microgrids’ are supporting regional and remote communities across Australia

Small sets of electricity generators, or “microgrids,” have long been used in disaster relief when grid power is reduced by bushfires or cyclones.

However, the technology is now being used to provide a safe, 24/7 supply of clean energy to Australian communities where connection to the main grid is a pipe dream.

Sometimes owned by local communities, renewable energy microgrids are slowly replacing dirty diesel generators. Solar is by far the most common source of generation for these microgrids, which usually also include energy storage such as batteries, pumped-storage hydro, or hydrogen.

New research by my colleagues and I examined 20 microgrid feasibility projects across Australia. Our findings show the critical role microgrids can play in the energy transition when supported by all levels of government.

National Microgrid Survey

In Australia and around the world, many communities are interested in renewable energy microgrids. The benefits include energy security, reliability, equity, autonomy and emission reductions.

Above all, microgrids offer a viable alternative to the national grid. They enable communities to take control of their energy destiny through local generation and ownership.

The projects we studied were funded by the Federal Government through the Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund to the tune of A$50.4 million.

Some were on the edge of the grid, in places where there were constant outages, while others were completely off the grid. Most communities wanted to protect themselves from outages, have access to cheaper energy and avoid being cut off for long periods after natural disasters.

Remote indigenous communities sought to reduce their reliance on dirty, outdated and unreliable diesel generators. They also worried about the risks associated with storing large quantities of the fuel in the community.

Power outages severely limit not only cooking, refrigeration and freezing, but also the pumping and heating of water for sanitary purposes.

Through a series of semi-structured interviews, we analyzed the drivers, barriers, and opportunities of each project.

The Marlinja microgrid is a perfect example of this.

About 60 people live in the remote community of Marlinja, 700 kilometres south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. It is the traditional land of the Mudburra and Jingili people.

In the past, especially during the rainy season, the community suffered from repeated power outages from the grid, which could take several days for the grid service provider to repair.

The situation was further worsened by prepaid meters, which limited residents’ access to electricity and water due to the high cost of kilowatts of electricity purchased using access cards.

Marlinja is currently home to a 100 kilowatt grid-connected photovoltaic installation and a 136 kWh battery, enough to cover the daytime and night-time energy needs of most residents.

Connection to the grid guarantees continuous power supply, especially at night when battery reserves are depleted.

Marlinja is the first Indigenous community-owned microgrid in Australia.

Original Power, an Indigenous energy organisation working with communities, has developed an innovative community benefit-sharing program with the support of Northern Territory Government-owned retailer Jacana Energy.

Clean Energy Community Coordinator Lauren Mellor helped the community raise $750,000 from the Original Power philanthropic network, with some seed funding from the government. She says the microgrid will lower the community’s energy costs:

Once the battery runs out, residents will return to using the grid, saving at least 70% on their electricity bills.

Importantly, these savings flow directly back to residents, ensuring the benefits of the program are shared across the community. The NT Government also saves money by burning less diesel.

However, despite high demand for electricity from the neighbouring school and livestock stations, NT regulations currently prevent the Marlinja community from selling surplus electricity back to the grid. This is partly due to grid instability, a situation that should improve as additional battery capacity becomes available.

Common obstacles to rapid implementation

The experience of the Marlinja community reflects the opinions of other microgrid projects. The main obstacles are:

• outdated regulations designed for centralized, not distributed, energy generation
• the need for greater government investment to achieve critical mass and economies of scale
• necessary societal change that will enable communities to develop new business models and approaches to sharing benefits and ownership.

This latter element ensures that the majority of the value generated by the microgrid stays in the communities serving it, rather than going to distant shareholders in Australia or overseas.

This is probably the most exciting aspect of Marlinja. By creating an investment and ownership model for Marlinja, Original Energy and other collaborators have opened the door to other regional and remote communities.

Instead of continuing to rely on unstable and expensive fossil fuels, they can transition to electricity generation that supports local economic development and investment through community ownership and empowerment.

Regional communities with different motivations

Other regional communities have also turned to microgrids to address other challenges.

The 2019 bushfires devastated coastal communities in southern NSW, so Cobargo wants solar and storage to provide energy security and maintain essential services in the event of unforeseen power outages.

Yackandandah in north-east Victoria has been on a similar path for more than a decade, with the community looking to cut energy costs and emissions while building greater grid resilience.

The city has long been home to three community microgrids, collections of homes that generate, store and even share electricity between homes, using solar power, batteries and smart meters.

The long-term vision for this deeply engaged community is to create a city-wide network, supported by two existing community-wide batteries.

Bring benefits

The rapid transition to renewable energy presents many opportunities and challenges. Much of the media coverage focuses on community concerns about building energy infrastructure. However, the opportunity renewables present to drive economic development and provide greater autonomy to regional and remote communities barely merits mention.

Microgrids provide an interesting example of how clean energy technology can deliver economic, environmental and social benefits to these communities.