Microgrids offer an exciting new model for farms to buy and sell power differently as well as better utilisation of on-site generation and local electricity networks. They may also have the added benefit of reducing grid losses as energy will be used more locally, leading to lower investment costs in infrastructure while increasing reliability. These benefits all have the potential to reduce energy costs and will be tested by the project. Ultimately, farmers could benefit from more stable network energy flows, increased network utilisation, more cost-effective uptake of distributed energy systems and reduced costs to provide a community-based source of local, affordable, low carbon energy.

The way energy is generated and consumed is rapidly changing, with customer-owned generation and storage expected to make up almost half of Australia’s entire electricity capacity by 2050. This project places our project partners and the agriculture sector at the forefront of energy generation innovation and better able to overcome ongoing reliability and affordability issues.

The project will establish four demonstration virtual microgrids in New South Wales and Queensland consisting of up to 50 real-time electricity meters which can be monitored on a single dashboard to determine feasibility of actual microgrids.

The virtual microgrids will test the following four overarching questions:

1. Can microgrids enhance the competitiveness of agricultural industries, particularly irrigation by optimising energy consumption and generation across multiple sites?
2. At what scale and in what locations could microgrids benefit agricultural enterprises, communities and energy networks?
3. How should microgrids in agricultural communities’ best be approached in relation to embedded solar generation, storage and energy sharing models such as Peer to Peer trading?
4. What are the benefits to local networks from understanding energy flows in real time, including the opportunity to stabilise networks and increase network utilisation?

Four case studies will be completed to test the concept in different scenarios:

1. Single enterprise
2. Edge of grid
3. Large-scale microgrid
4. One to be selected

The project will run from July 2020 until June 2022 with the following stages.

This year the Microgrids Project team completed the installation of more than 65 smart meters and is now deep in the modelling and analysis phase, in preparation for final recommendations and reporting in the first half of 2022.

Limited movement due to COVID-19, aging existing infrastructure, and low-quality connectivity presented many challenges and, in turn, learnings for successfully rolling out of real-time meters on farm. By using two metering technologies, the project team was also able to assess and compare offerings currently in the market.

Using the real-time and historical data being collected, our team has built a custom real-time modelling and analysis tool for our case studies. Final assumptions and scopes of analysis are being defined at the year’s close in preparation for reporting in Q1, 2022.

Having assessed our participants’ motivations and levers for change, the project team is now focussing on identifying specific technical and regulatory constraints on microgrid adoption at national , state , and local levels. We expect this to be an increasingly collaborative process as we engage the larger energy ecosystem.

Reporting will apply an integrative approach across technical, economic, and regulatory enablers and limitations. In doing so, feasibility recommendations will not just serve the farmer but the energy ecosystem at large.

As extreme weather events impact agricultural producers and communities this summer we are reminded of the importance of equitable access to resilient and reliable energy infrastructure. Microgrids are an important piece in that puzzle.

The stages of the project are illustrated in image below.

We aim to increase knowledge on the types of microgrids, how they may work, opportunities for agriculture and rural communities and what existing work is being done.