Grant recipient organisation Project title Project Description Grant amount (ex GST) State
Alinga Energy Consulting Pty Ltd Effective, responsible energy solutions for remote indigenous communities We aim to provide better energy outcomes for indigenous communities through studies that provide insights and strategies that can be replicated and adjusted to maximise impact. Our team will visit indigenous communities in remote off-grid or fringe of grid areas of Australia to spend time gaining a deep understanding of indigenous community energy circumstances and how microgrid technologies could replace, upgrade or supplement existing electricity supply arrangements. Our feasibility assessments have an emphasis on sustainable solutions that can be adequately maintained to provide long term benefits, including affordable energy to some of our nation's most vulnerable people to support better educational, health and economic outcomes. $473,670 WA
Atyenhenge-Atherre Aboriginal Corporation Santa Teresa Microgrid Project The Santa Teresa Microgrid project is a partnership Atyenhenge-Atherre Aboriginal Corporation and Arup. It is focused on understanding the technical and commercial feasibility of microgrid solutions for Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is a remote Aboriginal community of 600 residents, 87 km south-east of Alice Springs, whose energy supply is currently provided by NT Power and Water Corporation (PWC). Electricity is delivered via overland power lines and there have been consistent interruptions to power supply over several several years. Community and PWC have expressed a strong interest and support for exploring alternative forms of delivering reliable, secure energy to Santa Teresa. $303,371 NT
C.L.E.A.N. (Cowra) Incorporated Cowra Microgrid Detailed Feasibility Study The 1 MW Cowra Solar and Battery Microgrid will bring together the energy needs of several large industrial regional businesses into a single aggregated embedded network, and see the development of energy generation and dispatchable capacity. The structure will provide cost savings for the clients and increase their energy security with the addition of shared resources. This feasibility study will bring this Microgrid project through to investment readiness. In time, it is envisaged the Microgrid can expand to
  • include biogas powered electricity generation
  • add thermal networks to local heat customers; and
  • expand to include more electricity customers in the Cowra community.
 $1,031,556 NSW
Centre For New Energy Technologies Ltd Donald and Tarnagulla Microgrid Feasibility Study The project will compare the feasibility of islanding two regional Victorian towns exposed to supply vulnerabilities using a microgrid. The project will
  • Assess technical and social feasibility, and network impact
  • Demonstrate high DER concentration benefits
  • Develop a Microgrid Assessment Tool for other towns
  • Inform future regulation and policy
Following deep community engagement, a multi-variant model will be developed to assess the microgrid's potential to
  • deliver the energy reliability, affordability and security the communities seek
  • be viable against other solutions with view to costs, benefits, conversion risks and operation
  • help the towns ride through network faults from events such as extreme weather.
 $1,404,750 VIC
Desert Knowledge Australia Alice Springs Modelling The project seeks to address barriers that are currently causing serious grid stability issues and limiting additional renewable energy from being added to the Alice Springs power system, with other NT systems likely to follow.
The project focuses on conducting robust technical and economic analysis of Alice Springs, a small yet complex remote microgrid, as well as behavioural modelling to better understand consumer behaviour. This is complemented by the development of a novel multi-objective optimisation tool to best size batteries, expected to be part of the solution. Concluding this project will be the development of a Roadmap to 2030 report, identifying the necessary steps to reach a renewable energy fraction of 50 per cent by 2030.		 $3,197,507 NT
Ener-G Management Group Pty Ltd Yarrabah Microgrid Undertake a feasibility study to investigate microgrid technologies for the Yarrabah Community
  • extensive community engagement to identify options
  • audit and scope load and demand profiles
  • design and assess options
  • identify projects that provide sustainable employment and attract funding
  • make use of Distributed Energy Resources including small power generation systems e.g.: PV, Wind, WtE, Biogas and micro-turbines; behind the meter or on grid, utilising battery storage, electric vehicles.
The intention is to make Yarrabah a knowledge sharing showcase of a self-reliant, sustainable micro-grid that can be rolled out to other communities.		 $1,976,451 QLD
Ergon Energy Corporation Limited Ergon Energy Isolated Systems Diesel Off Microgrid Feasibility Study The feasibility study applies to the remote communities of Mapoon, Burketown, Birdsville and Windorah. The proposed studies will review viable options for the deployment of technology solutions to enable a higher penetration of customer and centralised solar PV, as well as develop a pathway to enable “diesel off” for significant periods of the day.
Enabling this transition would likely result in benefits including reliability improvements through greater power supply system resilience; reduction in the community's dependence on diesel generation; further enablement of community uptake of distributed renewable energy systems; and reduced electricity bills to the community, through increased use of local distributed energy resources.		 $408,954 QLD
Impact Investment Partners Pty Ltd Mutitjulu & Martu Community Microgrid Project: Feasibility Study A study is required to assess the viability of microgrids for the Mutitjulu township near Uluru, Northern Territory and three Martu community settlements in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Electricity in these communities is currently supplied by diesel generation sets and these systems are expensive to run, unreliable and deliver poor quality electricity due to fluctuations in frequency. This affects the performance and reliability of electrical equipment; essential services delivery such as sewerage and water supply; and household appliances. The study will perform technical and commercial feasibility, and undertake knowledge dissemination to remove barriers to microgrid investment in remote communities and to provide a reliable energy source. $519,954 NT and WA
Innovating Energy Pty Ltd PowerSmart Farm Electricity Generation using Agricultural Renewable Energy This project will test the feasibility of the InnovE PowerSmart farm electricity generation and technology solution in the dairy industry to build and support a business case for its wider adoption across agriculture in Australia. The solution uses an integrated set of proven technologies with a bio-gas anaerobic digester power generator at its core to
  1. Generate and store electricity on farm in regional and remote areas.
  2. Create a ‘hub and spoke’ model within a dairy network to build economies of scale.
  3. Build a wholesale and retail ‘Virtual Power Station Co-operative’ generating green energy for the region.
  4. Eliminate current waste and water contamination issues through the technology deployed.
 $3,000,000 NSW
Island Power Co Pty Ltd Indian Ocean Territories Renewable Energy Microgrid Feasibility Study The Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are Australia's most remote communities. The islands have some of the highest costs of power generation in Australia and experience critical ongoing issues with power reliability and security. The transition to renewable energy microgrids in the islands could provide more reliable, secure, and affordable power for strategic government assets and local communities. However, a significant knowledge gap exists around the feasibility and viability of new renewable microgrids in the islands. This project will undertake technical feasibility and financial viability studies across the islands to close this knowledge gap and unlock investment into renewable microgrids in these remote offgrid islands. $315,504 WA
Power And Water Corporation NT Microgrid Futures Project (SETuP 2.0) This project will produce a suite of studies applicable to the portfolio of over 60 remote isolated grids operated by Power and Water Corporation in the Northern Territory. The project will investigate methods of maintaining or improving micro-grid reliability while supporting higher levels of customer solar investment. Building on lessons from the successful SETuP Program will map a pathway to further reduce diesel fuel and operational costs. Detailed studies will span isolated diesel and fringe of grid communities, in regulated and non-regulated spheres. The project benefits will include a set of detailed business cases for the selected communities, as well as a set of broadly applicable microgrid methodologies. $1,210,000 NT
Queensland Farmers' Federation Ltd The flow on benefits of microgrids for irrigated agriculture This Project will assess whether microgrids can offer benefits to electricity consumers and networks such as more stable network energy flows, increased network utilisation, increased uptake of distributed energy systems and reduced costs in the rural and irrigation sector to provide a community-based source of affordable, low carbon energy within a geographical boundary.
The Project will establish and analyse four demonstration virtual microgrids in New South Wales and Queensland to test their suitability in different circumstances and models. The project includes community consultation and workshops, data collection and modelling to understand costs and benefits and provide guidance to industry and government.		 $654,807 QLD and NSW
Regional Power Corporation Energy for all: Modernising microgrids for Aboriginal Western Australians Electricity services for Aboriginal people living in WA's remote communities are far behind the rest of Australia. Over 12,000 people in 160 Aboriginal Communities have services with major safety and reliability issues, aging infrastructure, and no solar PV. Horizon Power will produce a plan for 13 Aboriginal Communities to upgrade to utility standard electricity services including
  • Clean, lower cost solar-diesel hybrid generation;
  • Safe, utility-owned and operated distribution networks;
  • User pays retail, including prepayment billing, smart phone application; and
  • Local Aboriginal procurement and employment outcomes.
At closeout, Horizon Power will negotiate with the State Government to secure funding to undertake the works.		 $1,402,128 WA
Regional Power Corporation Exmouth Microgrid-  100% Renewable Energy Town Transition Horizon Power wants to explore the feasibility of transitioning the power generation in Exmouth, WA to 100 per cent renewable energy supply.
This feasibility proposal spans over 1 year and comprises of
  • Deliberative Community Engagement in the conceptual design, co-ownership business models, and implementation of the new renewable energy eco-system.
  • Engineering concept feasibility and design for new 100 per cent renewable generation ecosystem.
  • Asset audits (generation) – to understand the condition of the assets and assessment of remaining asset life.
  • Developed and tested Customer asset ownership business models.
  • Targeted customer service and products as an outcome of the community engagement.
 $600,000 WA
Totally Renewable Yackandandah Inc. Yackandandah Islandable Microgrid Project Totally Renewable Yackandandah is an Australian thought leader in the Community Energy Sector, winning acclaim for our clear renewable energy target, three existing microgrids, virtual power plant and solar penetrations exceeding 55 per cent. This project will analyse an important next step for Yackandandah - how to build in the requisite storage capacity to manage the excess of daytime solar generation to use each evening.
In general, the project will draw together a technical feasibility study of both a 1-2 MW battery storage and a 4-6 MW Pumped Hydro Energy Storage facility and then consider the financial viability of such in the local area network. This done with a clear eye on an islandable power supply for safety and resilience.		 $346,644 VIC
Wattwatchers Pty Ltd MyTown Microgrid: a community and data-driven feasibility MyTown Microgrid takes an innovative approach to microgrid feasibility using cutting edge IoT technology, combined with community engagement and business model co-design. The Latrobe Valley town of Heyfield will seek to answer if microgrids can deliver reliability, economic, emissions and community benefits by
  1. using multi-data source platforms to calculate demand, flexibility and supply;
  2. undertaking community engagement and co-designing community centric business models; and
  3. wrapping technical, economic and regulatory analysis into fit-for-purpose decision support tools.
Ultimately the project seeks to develop tools to make it faster and cheaper for regional communities to deploy cost effective microgrids for optimal outcomes.		 $1,787,300 VIC
Yurika Pty Ltd Developing commercial microgrid models for regional C&I businesses Yurika aims to advance the commercial viability of microgrids for the Commercial and Industrial sector in regional Australia. Having assembled a portfolio of sites including airports, ports, industrial estates, state development areas and agricultural businesses in existing and developing regional locations, Yurika will evaluate the commercial and technical feasibility of microgrids across a spectrum of potential use cases.
Yurika will utilise its proven record of delivering and managing complex electricity infrastructure, embedded networks, metering and distributed energy solutions, complemented by partnering with University of New South Wales to leverage its extensive research experience in advanced microgrids.		 $968,447 QLD
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