A brighter future for remote communities
Bringing light to the bush
How renewables restored remote communities
Professor Chris Lund was born in Alice Springs on Arrernte Country and spent time visiting remote Indigenous communities growing up. So, when he was presented with the opportunity to give back to those communities decades later in 1996, he jumped at it.
That opportunity came in the shape of the Bushlight Project, an initiative that set out to provide communities with access to affordable, reliable and consistent renewable energy.
“It was an Indigenous-led program, grounded in collaboration and cultural understanding,”
Professor Lund, who was a member of the Murdoch University hosted Australian CRC for Renewable Energy (ACRE) which led the design the energy systems, said.
“It was run by the Centre for Appropriate Technology, whose holistic approach – with authentic consultation that listened to what the communities truly wanted and needed – set it apart from anything that came before.”
The project sought to understand the true electricity needs of remote communities across Australia, aligning their aspirations with reliable, robust energy systems.
In Kitty Wells, for example, a homeland community 200km southeast of Broome, they aspired to have access to reliable power around the clock, consistent refrigeration, washing facilities and to reduce diesel use.
Designing for Country
While each community differed in what they wanted to achieve, the common theme was a desire to be able to live on Country on their terms.
If reliable power wasn’t available, especially through wet seasons when communities can be cut off from services and diesel supply for months, people were often forced to migrate to urban areas.
Bushlight's Regional Operations Manager Murray Schneider explaining the complexities of having diesel operated power
The Bushlight Project was established through an understanding of these challenges and the need for a better energy solution for remote communities.
Murdoch University developed the initial design for the systems that would achieve that.
“We became involved in 1996 as part of the Collaborative Research Centre for Renewable Energy hosted here,” Professor Lund explained.
“As part of that research centre, a unique testing facility dedicated to renewable energy systems was developed – the only one of its kind in Australia.”
This was critical, as developing reliable and robust systems for remote areas is very different to those for urban environments.
“We realised that what we were using in the city wouldn’t work out there, especially when local communities needed to do some of the maintenance and troubleshooting on these systems themselves, often thousands of kilometres from local service providers,” Professor Lund said.
“So, we developed really simple, reliable hybrid systems that drew on solar and wind to replace as many diesel generators as possible.”
The team built these systems in shipping containers that were then taken to harsh environments for field testing.
The first system was officially deployed at Mount Peachy in Central Australia.
This was a household system, the design of which the Centre for Appropriate Technology had further developed and refined, including user interfaces to support resident engagement, and operational performance indicators.
The design was then further refined over seven subsequent versions, with centralised systems and associated demand management hardware to cater for larger homelands.
By the end of the program in 2013, over 150 Bushlight Systems were deployed in more than 130 remote homeland communities across Central and Northern Australia.
A powerful legacy
“Two decades later, many of these systems still hum quietly, a testament to the design, system development, delivery, education and maintenance efforts of the Centre for Appropriate Technology,” Professor Lund said.
They systems are still out there, providing refrigeration for food and medicines, power for classrooms, year-round electricity that allows people who want to live on Country to do so.”
The initiative remains close to Professor Lund’s heart, having come from Alice Springs, where the Centre for Appropriate Technology was based.
“I’ve had a long affinity with the Indigenous communities on Arrernte Country – I understand the people well and their connection to the land,” he said.
“So, to be part of a program that has contributed to their well-being and provided them with a means to live on Country fills me with immense pride.”
Thank you to the Centre for Appropriate Technology for generously providing the photography that made this story possible.
Your support has been invaluable, and we truly appreciate your contribution to this project.
Built with Shorthand