The Australian government is committing $19.3 million for a renewable energy microgrid located in the protected Daintree Rainforest region.
Funding for the Daintree Microgrid program will be stretched out over three years through 2024. It will support deployment of a renewable microgrid which plans to incorporate hydrogen, according to the government release.
“Moving customers in the Daintree to a renewable microgrid will create jobs, improve reliability, security and affordability of electricity supply and reduce emissions by reducing diesel fuel consumption,” the release said.
The Daintree rainforest is a World Heritage-listed site within the wet tropics of Queensland. In order to avoid disturbance of the area, the microgrid will be deployed along roadways and on previously cleared land, the government said.
“This is a major win for communities in the Daintree Rainforest, which will see reduced pollution and noise from diesel generators, and will be a valuable demonstration of solar to hydrogen technology” Angus Taylor, Minister for Industry, Energy and Missions Reduction, said in a statement. .
The microgrid will include an 8-MW solar farm, 20-MWh in battery storage capacity and a 1-MW green hydrogen plant, according to reports. The government awarded Volt Advisory Group an $18.75 million contract to develop the microgrid.
Arcadis is partnering with Volt to design the project.
Once completed and in operation, Taylor said, the microgrid would displace more than four million liters of diesel fuel currently consumed in the Daintree region each year.
Australia has announced its goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
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(Rod Walton has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.)
