Groundbreaking First Nations’ Solar Microgrid Project secures catalytic ARENA Funding – Project to launch mid-2026

The Borroloola community’s Ngardara Solar Microgrid project in the Northern Territory has achieved a major milestone with the awarding of $8.347M in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Regional Microgrid Program’s First Nations’ stream today.

The grant funding also helps unlock access to private and philanthropic investment, placing the project on track to achieve financial close by mid 2026 with construction commencement targeted to begin in September.

An Australian-first, the microgrid project is an innovative model of utility-scale and First Nations’ community-owned renewable energy, with design and development co-led by First Nations’ renewable energy developer Original Power with the Borroloola community’s Ngardara Cooperative as majority owner.

Comprising a 2.1 megawatt (MW) solar array and 1.8 MW / 6.6 MWh battery, the microgrid project has been designed to assist the Borroloola township to achieve up to 80% renewable energy penetration – saving the Northern Territory Government 1.2 million litres of diesel every year, offering significant electricity cost reductions to First Nations’ households, and reducing government subsidies required to mitigate volatile diesel wholesale costs.

The project is proposing a commercial model where the revenue generated by the community microgrid will be shared with local First Nations’ households to provide electricity bill relief through an innovative benefit sharing arrangement pioneered by Original Power, delivering ‘solar credits’ direct to household prepayment meters.

The project has sector-leading potential, and as a first-of-its-kind development, it has overcome major development hurdles resulting from a lack of fit-for-purpose regulatory, technical and commercial assessment and approval processes.

Once operational, the project is set to transform the Territory’s high-cost and diesel-reliant remote energy landscape and put First Nations’ project owners in the driver’s seat of delivering just transition pathways to lower cost, clean and resilient energy systems.

Madie Sturgess, Original Power Co-Director Clean Energy Projects says: “The Ngardara Solar Microgrid project directly challenges legacy energy systems to innovate and evolve to the emerging reality that First Nations communities are seeking to drive renewable energy solutions that can overcome long-term challenges to energy access and affordability.

“Despite underdeveloped regulatory frameworks and traditionally monopolistic energy arrangements, the Ngardara Solar Microgrid project has driven the Northern Territory energy sector to co-deliver a viable blueprint for genuine ownership and benefit of local energy futures – the democratisation of energy for communities historically excluded from the renewables transition.”’

The Ngardara Solar Microgrid project demonstrates the ability for community-owned and remote renewable energy projects to support local retention of revenue and co-benefits through a combination of blended public and private finance, with the potential for replicability of the model to unlock significant savings and benefits across remote power networks and communities and fast-track government decarbonisation and grid modernisation efforts.

Scott McDinny, Ngardara Company Chair says: “The Ngardara Solar Microgrid project shows when community’-led solutions are enabled through the right policies, resourcing and partnerships, we can overcome decades-old challenges around the high cost of remote power generation, solve household disconnections and build genuine economic prosperity and independence for our regions. With a workforce trained and ready to go, we’re looking forward to breaking ground on this visionary project in coming months.”

Karrina Nolan, Original Power Executive Director says: “This project demonstrates the incredible capacity of our communities to implement solutions to our own challenges. The Ngardara Solar Microgrid project successfully showcases a model for access to cleaner, more affordable power for remote communities, with significant benefits back to households, government, retailers and utilities.”

Over its 25-year lifespan, the project intends to offer substantial benefits including:

Bill savings of up to 50% for Borroloola households on prepayment meters resulting in reduced disconnection events, and lease payments to Traditional Owners
Improved grid supply and security enabled by smart energy asset deployment, displacing diesel reliance and building economic and climate resilience
Delivery of a local workforce development program, including ten Certificate 2s in Construction and Renewable Energy Pathways and two electrical apprenticeships, to secure construction and operational phase jobs and skilled labour for other future local energy productivity activities.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Original Power is a First Nations-led not for profit community development organisation working in partnership with communities in the Northern Territory and around Australia to achieve self-determined solutions to local challenges. Working in partnership with communities, industry and all levels of government they help to overcome structural barriers preventing Indigenous communities from participating in, and benefitting from, the transition to renewable energy.

The Ngardara Solar Project will develop the first utility-scale microgrid project led by a First Nations co-operative in and built on Aboriginal freehold land that will provide Aboriginal community members direct relief from energy poverty and energy insecurity, while also delivering significant diesel savings and CO2 emissions reduction.

Electricity generation and distribution in Borroloola is managed by Power and Water Corporation, which operates and maintains 3.3 MW of diesel generation capacity, and a 653kW solar array. Jacana Energy is currently the electricity retailer in Borroloola where most residential customers use pre-payment meters. The annual energy consumption of Borroloola is approximately 6.9 GWh, with diesel generation currently providing approximately 87% of the electricity.

In addition to achieving a ground-truthed model of First Nations’ community ownership and investment in renewable energy, the project also offers government and industry a blueprint to fast-track decarbonisation alongside improvements in energy affordability for remote communities.

By resolving significant barriers to deployment of microgrid solutions, the project reduces social licence barriers for renewable energy on First Nations lands through community engagement, agreement making, and community ownership; reduces labour barriers of scarce regional and remote workforce; and reduces the commercial barrier of long land agreement timelines through collaborative engagement.

INDEPENDENT NEWS IS IMPORTANT.

Enjoy reading Eco Voice? Please help us by purchasing a GIFT Voucher or send one to a friend and encourage people to purchase trees or seeds via The Native Shop – www.nativeshop.com.au