Microgrid plan in Federal Budget to combat soaring power costs, endless blackouts
Author: ABC NEWS Date Posted:29 March 2019
The Government is expected to announce funding for microgrid studies in next week's Budget as remote and regional communities continue to grapple with spiralling electricity costs and outages.
Key points:
- More than $50m expected to be put aside in Budget for research into microgrids
- Some 'end of the line' communities already exploring localised power
- Energy Minister says scheme could save communities as much as $1b
- Green energy advocate says plan is Government's "first good idea in years"
The small north-east Victorian town of Euroa is currently working to establish a microgrid, which involves installing solar panels and batteries to localise its power source.
The Budget is expected to contain $50.4 million to explore whether microgrids might be a cheaper, more reliable solution in communities at the very end of the power line.
"The aim of this money is to do feasibility studies because that's where it often gets stuck, there's just not the money to work out what the answer looks like," Energy Minister Angus Taylor said.
End of the line
Remote Australia has some of the longest, thinnest electricity grids in the world, and in many cases it would be cheaper for the energy provider to set up off-grid systems for those customers.
But rules to restrict anti-competitive behaviour prevent network operators from owning or operating generators, however small.
Far North Queensland and South Australia's Yorke Peninsula are at the end of two of the longest networks in the world.
The powerlines to service these communities are expensive to run and maintain and can be unreliable.
Even when the power is on, there could be more sinister effects for fringe-of-grid communities where arcing between powerlines had been known to start bushfires.
Green energy advocates 'speechless'
The Government's plan to fund feasibility studies has drawn rare praise from the renewable energy sector.
"I'm almost speechless," Total Environment Centre's energy expert Mark Byrne said.
