<
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/a-better-way-to-live-indigenous-owned-solar-microgrid-lights-way-for-energy-democracy/>
"An innovative project to share solar power directly with households in a
remote indigenous community – giving them cheaper and more reliable electricity
and a stake in Australia’s renewable energy transition – has been launched in
the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
Based around a network-connected 100kW solar array and 136kWh battery, the
Marlinja Microgrid is a trailblazing project that has been five years in the
making, led by indigenous-owned not-for profit Original Power and the Marlinja
community.
Original Power community project coordinator Lauren Mellor says the town
approached the company in 2019 with some “very deep energy insecurity
challenges” – challenges that, to our governments’ collective shame, are all
too common for First Nations communities.
Marlinja, located about halfway between Alice Springs and Darwin, is home to
the Jingili people. Essential services for the remote town are supplied by the
NT government-owned Power and Water Corporation (PWC) and Jacana Energy is the
retailer.
For power, the community’s 60 residents and 18 households rely on a 25km feeder
line from a diesel/gas hybrid plant in the nearby township of Elliott.
But like many Aboriginal communities in the Territory, access to that
electricity also comes via an NT government
mandated prepayment meter system.
As Mellor explains, this means that unlike post-paid billing customers,
Marlinja residents need to go to the store to purchase top-up credits to keep
up their power supply. If they run out of money, or time, the power goes off.
For households in Marlinja, it is not uncommon to have the power cut off every
three days. This can last for periods of up to eight hours, or sometimes days
at a time, until they can afford to top up their meters."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
