The Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG) will continue to build upon its Community Resilience Plan with the installation of crucial energy infrastructure on 27 August.
Taking place at the Millwarra Community Building, the day will celebrate the installation of new solar panels and a battery on the hub, which will allow it to run without drawing energy from the grid.
MRAG vice president Phil Pomaroff said it was a significant step taken for the group’s Community Resilience Plan.
“We certainly recognise it’s a huge achievement today, we’ve really been achieving a lot and we hope to achieve a lot more,” Mr Pomaroff said.
The infrastructure, funded by AusNet’s Energy Resilience Community Fund, would ensure the people of Millgrove had a recovery hub to access in the case of a severe weather event.
“If it is required after an emergency as a recovery hub, the facility is designed to operate for at least a couple of days… so it’s basically off-grid, providing power for that building and providing resources here for the community,” Mr Pomaroff said.
AusNet contributed $277,115 towards a solar PV generation and battery storage at Milwarra Primary School, and a connected inverter and battery for the Milwarra Community Hall.
AusNet executive general manager Andrew Linnie said the grants will ensure communities of their safety during power outages and weather events.
“These major grant projects will build community energy resilience, delivering important and impactful change to communities across these regions, helping them to stay connected and safe during prolonged outages and emergencies,” Mr Linnie said.
The grant page stated Millgrove was one of Victoria’s most at-risk communities for storms, flooding and bushfires.
“The hall is a key building for the community. It acts as a place of last resort and provides council owned sports grounds to bolster initial response and recover efforts in the event of disruptions and disasters,” the grant page stated.
MRAG’s Community Resilience Plan was established in 2022 which would designate the Millwarra Community Building as a recovery hub in the event of an emergency.
The group then drew upon AusNet’s Energy Resilience Community Fund to have solar panels and batteries installed at the Millwarra Community Building and also the pavilion at the Millgrove Recreation Reserve.
Mr Pomaroff said the two buildings were chosen for its facilities which would be useful in times of emergency.
“Those particular two facilities have commercial kitchens, and we’ve got significant space to house people in the soccer pavilion. There’s showers as well and we’ve also got the oval, which is a place of last resort.”
The community building is adjacent to the pavilion which made the two buildings an ideal location to house a recovery hub.
“It’s very central, it’s just a neat little package here which provides everything we need for what we look for in this resilience recovery hub,” Mr Pomaroff said.
With the infrastructure now installed, Millgrove’s new resilience and recovery hub is nearly ready.
“We still need to do some of the administrative things to set up the hub, but the infrastructure is there, which is the key part.”
Groups like MRAG are not-for-profit and rely on bodies like AusNet to help fund these initiatives.
“We’ve really been achieving a lot and we hope to achieve a lot more, but we definitely need those collaborations to help us for sure,” Mr Pomaroff said.
“We certainly recognise it’s a huge achievement today, but we do have bigger and bigger calls ahead as well, which keeps us driving us forward.”
He said it was amazing to think AusNet recognised that communities needed energy resilient infrastructure.
“Power can be intermittent or no power at all during an emergency. It’s been really fantastic to go through that exercise and to have it now come to fruition, to actually have it installed and be available.”
In the end though, MRAG’s biggest achievement so far was its connection to the community of Millgrove.
“We’re now working with the CFA, we’re working with the SES, we’re working with the school, we also work with the soccer club,” Mr Pomaroff said.
“Everything we do pulls different parts of the community together and that’s what’s really, I think, our biggest achievement.”
