The Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at the Australian National University, along with project partners Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance, network operator Essential Energy, and technology company Zepben, are delighted by news of successful project funding under the Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund (RRCRF) – microgrids 2020-21. 

The Southcoast Microgrid Reliability Feasibility (SµRF) project will engage NSW South Coast Eurobodalla residents, businesses, and Essential Energy in planning the transition from a bushfire exposed grid to a resilient grid of islandable microgrids.  

The project partners will receive $3.125M in funding over three years under the RRCRF to: 

• conduct community-led design of future energy systems, quantifying the value of reliability;  
• model the operation of eight microgrids across the region using high-resolution monitoring data and develop a holistic assessment of implementation costs; and 
• explore business models and regulatory innovations to improve feasibility implementation. 

“As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, it’s ever more critical to bolster the resilience of regional community’s power supplies. In this project we are exploring how microgrids – which pool energy generation and storage systems to maintain the power supply of a community when disconnected from the national grid – can best be deployed on the South Coast,” says Dr Bjorn Sturmberg, a Research Leader in the ANU Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program. 

The Hon Angus Taylor MP, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction announced on 27 July 2021 that the Government will be committing $25.6 million to back 20 microgrid feasibility studies under Round Two of the Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund. 

And the full ANU media release is here https://bsgip.com/news-events/news/southcoast-microgrid-project-gets-energised-with-3-125m-in-funding/