UNSW Sydney researchers want to talk to you, especially if you have solar, to learn how to improve people’s energy supply when the grid fails during fires, floods and storms.
Keeping the lights and fridge on, phones charged, and water pumping is crucial at any time and even more so throughout a natural disaster. Staying tuned in to emergency notices requires keeping the internet, radio, phones and television on. In the Black Summer bushfires some communities were without power for more than a month, severely hampering their recovery.
UNSW researchers Dr Mike Roberts and Dr Sophie Adams want to talk to NSW residents and business owners in regions that have been affected by power outages from storms, fires or floods. They also want to talk to and collect energy data from people with solar, batteries or other energy sources that might help maintain their electricity supply.
Energy Sustainability through Knowledge and Information Exchange and Sharing (ESKIES) is a project of the Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund (BCRRF).
The study aims to gain an understanding of the role that solar, batteries and other energy sources, as well as energy management approaches, can play in maintaining electricity supply to regional and rural communities throughout bushfires, floods, storms and other disruptions to the electricity grid.
Dr Mike Roberts, from the School for Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW says, “We’ll be talking to people about their experience with power when the grid has failed, both good and bad, and we’ll also be looking at their energy data.”
“We want to then share that knowledge with others so they can find ways to avoid energy supply disruptions to their homes and businesses.”
Dr Sophie Adams, social scientist at UNSW, says, “We’re mindful we’re going to be talking to people in communities that have suffered terribly from the fires and floods, and for this reason we’re open to engaging with participants at a level that suits them.”
