DIY power grid

I’m currently traveling south through Albury Wodonga, and realised I’m a few km’s away from Yackandandah.

A few months ago, a friend mentioned an awesome community project called Totally Renewable Yackandandah – a volunteer based group who are aiming to power their entire town with a renewable energy minigrid.

This is such an awesome example of a community not sitting around and waiting for options to come to them. Instead, they’re raising money through donations and applying for grants, and just building it all themselves.

One thing that’s unique about this project how it stores and distributes energy. They’re using community batteries which are not large industrial things designed to power entire towns from one source, nor is it a household battery charging from its own rooftop panels… It’s in between.

The community pools it’s energy capture capabilities into (currently) 3 “microgrids”, creating a network that shares power through the whole town. This setup is uncommon in Aus and T.R.Y are pioneering it in tandem with Indigo Power.

Yackandandah will soon run on 100% renewable energy, and they’re sharing how to do it. Very inspiring stuff. This is what it looks like to see a climate opportunity and jump on it.