Remote town transformed by solar and wind micro-grid

Western Australia has flicked the switch on one of Australia’s largest and most sophisticated microgrids, a 5MW mix of solar, wind and battery storage that will have the ability, if required, to power the Mid West town of Kalbarri entirely with renewables.

The Kalbarri microgrid, which combines 1.6MW of wind generation capacity, 1MW of “mum and dad” rooftop solar and 2MWh of battery storage, differs from most in that it has no fossil fuel back-up. That’s because the microgrid, itself, is the back-up – in this case, for the main grid.