ABC News
Summary
In November 2019, a bolt of lightning ignited a bushfire that burned for months and destroyed hundreds of houses as it swept towards the ocean, isolating the hamlets of Kioloa and Bawley Point.
For weeks, the supply of power to these communities on the NSW South Coast was patchy. Meat rotted in freezers. Water pumps died. Mobile phones went flat. Petrol bowsers sat idle. Cell towers failed.
Soon afterwards, Bawley Point resident Luci Somers declared she'd had enough.
"I was operating on such high anxiety and insecurity about emergency situations at that time that everything felt like an emergency," she said.
"I remember saying to my husband that if there is one more blackout then I'm leaving for good."
One response to Black Summer was to look at ways to make regional communities less dependent on the broader power grid, which is vulnerable to fires, floods and storms.
Now, with a dangerous fire season looming, some of these potential energy solutions are coming online.
This month, NSW electrical network operator Endeavour Energy announced it had completed the first phase of construction of a self-sufficient energy system, called a microgrid, for Kioloa and Bawley Point.
So, are microgrids the future for regional Australia?
As the country prepares for more climate-charged extreme floods, fires and other natural disasters, is it time to roll up the poles and wires?
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