Monitoring devices installed as part of the Cowra Microgrid project

CLEAN Cowra Ltd. , as part of the funding for RRCRF Microgrids program, has installed electricity monitoring devices at five businesses participating in the project. The devises provide real time data on the energy consumption at each location and will provide information over the next twelve months. This data log will help determine how much electrical energy is required to be generated within the Cowra microgrid. As the data is provided in 15 second intervals, a detailed profile of the energy consumption is created and an indication of the seasonal demand requirements over a whole year.

The installation of the devices is a good initiator for the Microgrid project in talking about what it can deliver potentially, as well as what it means for the users and the ability for those respective businesses to interface with one another. The potential for users to be able to trade energy with one another is a benefit of the collective approach to this distribution infrastructure.

As a pilot project, it demonstrates the ability for the microgrid to be expanded or replicated in other parts of Cowra as well as in other regional centres.

Hybrid Power Solution’s David Hooper installing the devices.