Bundling Solar/Wind & Broadband in the Outback

source: Wired.com Stewart Taggart 2001.11.12

SYDNEY, Australia -- Lower costs, green electricity and broadband communications, too.

Over the next four years, researchers in Western Australia will be outfitting remote Outback communities with
wind and solar power, which will be remotely adjusted by satellite to maximize their renewable energy output
and reduce the need for backup diesel generators. The spare capacity on the satellite uplink can also be used
for other things, such as local broadband Internet access, telemedicine and education.

Solar and wind power have long been deployed in the Outback. So have various satellite communications
technologies. And real-time remote monitoring and control is now commonplace for businesses that operate
things like isolated oil wells. But so far, no one's bundled all three for isolated communities.

Telecommunications and energy providers have long been bedeviled by the high costs
involved in serving small, isolated communities. High capital and fuel transport costs, ruinous
maintenance expenses, and small local consumption profiles makes the economics daunting.

Virtually everywhere, such services are subsidized, putting the focus on cost reduction.

"Ultimately, we want to build a platform for shared services," says Reid, who believes the
technology could work for communities as small as ten people.

Over the next four years, he'll oversee installation of various-sized solar panels, wind power
generators, energy-storing batteries, and small VSAT satellite dishes in 240 remote Outback
communities.

The system relies largely upon technology developed by Honeywell International for Perth oil
and gas producer Amadeus Petroleum NL, which has deployed it to monitor its own
maintenance and production needs at various hard-to-reach oil wells. The system relies on
linking power and monitoring systems to a small VSAT satellite dish that in turn connects by
satellite to a control room of Amadeus, either through a dedicated phone line or the Internet.

Amadeus Petroleum believes its central control room in Perth can, in addition to managing its
dedicated installations like oil wells, monitor large numbers of small power-generating plants
in small villages.

That's because none of these village-level power plants would require full-time watching. For
instance, the control room might contact a village only when its electricity consumption rises
on a particular day to where it could crash its finite local power supply.

Similarly, remote troubleshooting could assist scheduled maintenance visits to be more
productive, allowing repairmen to show up with the right parts. This makes a difference when
the parts depot is a long distance away.

Paul Budde, an independent telecommunications analyst in Sydney, is skeptical. He sees this
project as an over-engineered Outback white elephant. Budde believes simplicity and
reliability are more important to isolated settlements than fancy, multi-bundled solutions.

"No one is going to opt for solar power because they can save on telecommunications,"
Budde said. "The two transactions are different. Both at one time is too complicated."

Reid strenuously disagrees, saying Budde's analysis rests on the assumption that consumers
in remote areas have a choice. In many small communities, service costs are so high that
traditional consumer economics goes out the window, and that's why many small, isolated
communities still don't have phone service or electrical power. While this may be an
experiment, it's one that powerless, phoneless remote communities are unlikely to pass up.

Reid plans to begin installing the systems early next year. If the program is successful, he
believes it could work well in remote areas of the developing world.