"After the bushfires, they had a good sense of how vulnerable they were, as well as really organised in terms of thinking about planning for the future and what to do in future events.These "overlapping needs" helped justify the high cost of an all-renewable microgrid.
In one of these studies, Australian National University researchers looked at communities within the Eurobodalla Shire on the coast of south-east NSW, which was among the worst-affected areas in Black Summer. "People said to me [intermittent power] doesn't really help me if it's the middle of the night and I need to put out a spot fire," Dr Ransan-Cooper said.
Even residents who had nothing to gain financially agreed to share the energy they generated during a network outage.How expensive are microgrids?The ANU commissioned energy consultants ITP Renewable to calculate the cost of a small rooftop solar and battery microgrid for a town of 200. In off-grid remote communities, where the cost of delivering diesel is higher, battery-and-solar microgrids are the cheaper option.