Microgrids aiming for big energy

MICROGRIDS are the focus of the Grampians Community Power Hub’s next free community webinar.

Set for Thursday, 24 March from GCPH project manager, engineer and sustainable energy expert Sowmya Nagaraj will host the evening.

BREAZE president Dr Mary Debrett said local government areas across western Victoria have reported that they “suffer periodic energy reliability issues.”

“Microgrids are one of the potential solutions to this problem and can also help with grid firming,” she said.

“There are currently a number of microgrid pilots happening in other parts of the state. We believe sharing the learnings from these will be of interest to regional communities.

“We hope our microgrid webinar will start conversations in those communities with energy reliability issues about how to best address that problem, and obviously multiple perspectives are needed from local residents, business, electricity networks and renewable energy experts.”

As part of the event Totally Renewable Yackandandah president and Mondo Power community engagement partner Matthew Charles-Jones, University of Technology Sydney Institute for Sustainable Futures researcher Dr Stuart Dwyer, and Indigo Power analyst Nick Mason-Smith are set to share their expertise.

The GCPH covers 11 municipalities across the Grampians region, locating spaces for potential renewable energy projects, and then assisting in the delivery of these initiatives.

Project include solar system installations, organisations’ energy audits, and larger sustainable community partnerships.

The first-ever GCPH program ran from 2017 to 2020, hosted by BREAZE.

“One key learning from the pilot was that raising awareness of the potential for community-owned renewable energy entails identifying community champions; those individuals committed to getting their community on board,” Dr Debrett said.

“The work of the Hub is not about air-dropping big projects across the region, expecting communities to embrace them. To build social licence for and public trust in community energy, the locals need to own it.

“We know there are people across the Grampians region who want more renewables and our goal is to work with them in engaging support to develop viable projects.”

The microgrids webinar will be held from 7pm to 8pm on Thursday, 24 March. Register at trybooking.com/BXWNT.