Original Power was commissioned by the Federal Government through the Regional & Remote Communities Reliability Fund (RRCRF), with the support of the Borroloola community, to complete the study and develop a detailed and fully costed plan for a community microgrid. This feasibility was conducted in partnership with Ekistica and Impact Investment Partners.
This project involves four work packages:
- Understanding community energy needs, including current power usage patterns and future community power needs.
- Understanding power generation potential i.e. assessing how much solar and and storage potential exists, and how it can be harnessed to provide lower cost, more reliable power to meet the community’s needs and reduce reliance on grid power and diesel generation. This involves extensive community and stakeholder consultation and analyses including solar, cultural heritage, geological, topographical and engineering studies.
- Assessing opportunities to generate community revenue from power resources e.g. by selling unneeded power back to the grid.
- Finalising the microgrid design and development plan, Original Power and engineering partner Ekistica have completed a detailed microgrid plan with details of community benefits, costed designs and an ownership and investment framework to help the Borroloola community and representative organisation Ngardara Cooperative achieve their objectives.