Independent energy dream alive
TWO Victorian consultants experienced in helping communities go off the grid fronted a community workshop for an energy independent Tyalgum on Monday night.
Alex Houlston and Tosh Szatow are from Energy for the People, an organisation in Central Victoria which has been successful in securing $700,000 towards a renewable energy project in their community, and are also serving as consultants in other areas.
"They do crowd-funding which is an avenue we're looking at very seriously for the Tyalgum project," said Kacey Clifford from Australian Radio Towers, the company behind the local project.
Ms Clifford said up to this point they had concentrated their efforts in building a groundswell of support, but now it was time to move into the next funding phase.
Mr Szatow said a community going off the grid was highly achievable.
"With Tyalgum located at the end of a distribution network, it is technically quite simple to disconnect the town from the mains grid, and to simply generate and store all the town's energy needs locally," he said.
A second meeting, where the consultants will discuss their work, will take place on Wednesday, 7pm at the Haven Bar, Wharf St, Murwillumbah.
