Narara Ecovillage was established by people who had the vision of an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable world, and who wanted to bring that vision to life within a community.
The Village has sustainably built and run homes, a smart-grid system that powers the community, and a water management system. This makes for a highly efficient Village, with a high level of energy security for its residents – who generate more power than they use, exporting an average of 1 megawatt to the grid every day. That’s enough to power over a hundred more homes!
Local benefits:
The Village is exploring ways to maximise the benefits of having an oversupply of clean power. They’re looking at becoming a virtual power plant, which is basically a network of clean energy (solar panels) and batteries that links up with the main electricity grid and supplies energy when the grid asks for it. This would make $50,000 – $80,000 for the Village’s residents each year, and help decarbonise the State’s electricity grid by relying less on polluting sources of energy. The Village also employs local builders and electricians, helping to support the local economy and workforce.
Climate impact:
An average family home consumes about 20 kWh of energy per day, and for each kWh, around a kilo of carbon emissions are produced using coal fired power. The Ecovillage supports 57 homes with clean energy, and is completely self-sufficient for 75% of the year, meaning that they avoid producing 18,000 kgs of carbon emissions annually. Since the Village exports much more electricity than it uses, that emissions saving is many times greater for the grid.
Community benefits:
The first stage of the development is complete. Construction of homes on the second half is now commencing and there are still opportunities to join this clean energy residential development. The people who live in the ecovillage enjoy being able to have an active role in their community, undertaking new projects to increase energy security and environmental protection, making this an inclusive and climate-comfortable place to live. They also have an electric vehicle share scheme, so that residents can use clean transport when they need to, and EVs can also serve as a fleet of batteries to store clean solar power. As the grid develops ways to support two-way charging, that means the village will have access to more clean power overnight. Since daytime power costs them nothing, the villagers have very affordable transportation, and there are three 22kW public charging points around the village where visitors can often be found charging whilst having a bite to eat at ‘Neville’, the village coffee cart, or walking in the adjacent Strickland State Forest!
image from @narara.ecovillage on instagram