Applications for next round of feasibility funding for remote and regional microgrids opening soon

Projects across Australia from very remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory to rural farming communities in Victoria are eligible to apply.

The program will help fund feasibility studies that will look at whether establishing a microgrid, or upgrading existing off-grid technologies, would better meet the electricity supply needs of regional and remote communities.

Feasibility studies are the first step to unlocking investment in microgrids and exploring how they benefit individual communities and the grid as a whole.

Microgrids can help reduce electricity bills for regional and remote communities, as well as deliver benefits for the grid as a whole by saving hundreds of millions of dollars in network costs.

Microgrids can also help regional communities to realise the potential of innovative technologies or distributed energy resources, like solar and batteries, to reduce their reliance on costly diesel generation.

The Government launched the $50.4 million Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund in 2019 to help regional and remote communities access cheaper and more reliable power through microgrids.

Earlier this year, 17 microgrid projects shared in over $19 million in grant funding under Round One of the Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund.

Applications for Round Two close on 27 January 2021.

Further information including application instructions and the Grant Opportunity Guidelines are now available on the Business.gov.au website.

For more information regarding Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund – Microgrids 2020-21, go here.