The loss of power in the Upper Murray region during and after the 2019/2020 bushfires placed an additional strain on communities and emergency services but the shortfall has now been addressed by boosting systems on critical sites.

Under the Upper Murray Place Based Power Plan – Energy Resilience and Reliability Project, a combination of solar, battery and generator systems have been supplied and installed across 23 sites in the region.

Indigo Power has partnered with Upper Murray Incorporated (UMI) on the project and is responsible for its delivery.

Three community-scale batteries are nearing completion at Corryong Health, the Corryong Recreation Reserve and Walwa Bush Nursing Centre.

These energy systems include large solar PV and community-sized battery systems.

There have been 20 energy nodes installed which are now providing renewable energy to host sites every day and are ready to supply backup power during the next emergency outage.

For some of the publicly accessible sites, there will also be communications available in the event of an emergency.

This will allow communications with a broad range of redundancy including satellite NBN, 4G boosters and localised communication solutions should there be the need.

Indigo Power is also seeking community members to become part of the Upper Murray Community Microgrid Interest Group.

To achieve a future microgrid, the group will look to achieve the following:

• Educating ourselves and the wider community on microgrids, Virtual Power Plant (VPP), Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and other concepts in energy generation, storage and distribution;
• Preliminary site identification for future opportunities using Distributed Energy Resources (DER) already installed and other potential infrastructure in the Upper Murray region;
• Keeping up to date on the fast-moving changes in DER technology and regulation;
• Assisting in defining relevant microgrid geographies across the Upper Murray;
• Identifying and keeping up to date on funding sources;
• Advocating with federal, state and local governments.

The project is funded by the Victorian and Australian governments and will be completed by 30 May 2023.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Corryong Microgrid Interest Group, register your details online at uppermurrayinc.com.au/media/microgridinterestgroup or for general progress of the project, visit uppermurrayinc.com.au.

This article appeared in Corryong Courier, 2 March 2023.