Early stage energy planning to prevent blackouts in Nipapanha community near Leigh Creek in South Australia has begun.

"If the power's out for a few hours or longer, after a few hours our phone service goes out and then sometimes the water will go out too because of the pumps. It’s pretty difficult not having any phone service, TVs, and water." 

Adnyamathanha woman Jumeka Saunders from the remote community of Nipapanha recently spoke to George Yankovich from ABC South Australia about the many power disruptions impacting her community, especially after big storms and during the hot season.

(This is an excerpt from that interview)

“It's like the worst time to have no power for people that have kids, babies, Elders, and people that need like medications and refrigerators and all that,” she said.

Jumeka says following the October 2024 storms which caused a major prolonged power outage and significant disruption, the community decided power-outs were becoming too big of a problem to ignore. 

"Everyone just wants power that's reliable, sustainable,” she said.

To understand alternative options available, Jumeka travelled to Marlinja Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory to look at that community's microgrid which was installed in 2024, in partnership with Original Power.

“It looked really good. It’s impressive what they have accomplished in their community. The whole community is pretty involved with that project, which is great. And it's done like a lot for that community. It just runs the whole community."

Finding a similar solution to the energy problems Nipapanha is facing is "close to pretty urgent”, says Jumeka.

One option they’re currently exploring is a microgrid.

“The community members and our board members are pretty keen,” says Jumeka.

Assisted by Arup and the Network, a workshop was held recently in Nipapanha to look at some of the challenges and opportunities for the future for Nipapanha and surrounding communities.

Dr Sunny Oliver-Bennetts, Community Engagement Leader Australasia at Arup told the ABC the community is in the early planning and feasibility stage, driven by the "real challenge for Nipapanha sitting at the very end of the power line”.

“What this means is that if there's any disruptions down the line due to extreme weather events or power lines being down, then inevitably Nipapanha is going to be impacted. So that is a real challenge for this community, and with extreme temperatures and extreme weather events that we're seeing more of, that means that the community is being impacted on a regular basis. 

"I think for Nepaununna, it's early days, but they're exploring different options of community benefits and projects that sustain into the future.

“It's really important that there is that community ownership model and community engagement around a project, because if you don't have that, then we're not going to see long-term engagement in terms of employment opportunities and in terms of looking at how the energy infrastructure can support the needs of the community into the future. 

“It is absolutely essential that there is a clean energy solution that's reliable, that's affordable and sustainable for this community into the future so that they can live a quality life in their community day to day. 

"It's essential that it happens in the very near future." 

Jumeka agrees.

"I hope by the start of next year or late next year we start seeing some progress, and then hopefully in a few years after that, we have a microgrid,” she said.

You can hear the full interview published on ABC here