Risen Energy Providing Solar Panels For Bushfire Relief Efforts

Risen Energy Australia says it will supply its solar panels for modular solar and energy storage systems being rolled out in bushfire affected communities.

Australia’s horrendous bushfire season may have taken somewhat of a back seat in the media given COVID-19, but for many Australians it is still very fresh in their minds. Aside from charred landscape and property, an ongoing reminder for some has been a lack of mains grid power in various locations.

Risen Energy (Australia) announced yesterday it will be supplying solar panels to communities impacted by fires and floods, following an earlier contribution of 400 watt panels that were used at a test site by solar company 5B¹

Earlier this year, an initiative called the Resilient Energy Collective was formed, funded by Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes². The Collective, which has a goal of every Australian being able to access safe, reliable and sustainable energy following a disaster, teamed up with Tesla for battery storage and 5B for the solar aspect.

We’ve mentioned 5B a few times here on SQ in the past. The company produces Maverick; a modular, pre-fabricated folding solar panel and racking solution including ballast shipped in “blocks” that can be rapidly deployed. Far from being just a temporary solution, last year 5B said its Maverick system has been selected as the preferred technology for Sun Cable’s proposed 10GW solar farm near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Anyhoo, back to Risen. The company said it was keen to partner up with 5B to do their part for this campaign “as it is in line with Risen’s intention to become more involved in local Australian communities.”

“We are excited to team up with 5B, a forward-thinking Australian organisation, for this noble cause,” said General Manager of Risen Energy (Australia), Eric Lee. “5B’s mission of delivering world-class technology to ensure clean energy is affordable and accessible, ties in with Risen Energy’s vision of a green future’”

Risen Energy provided its Jaeger (also referred to as Jager, or Jäger) Plus series solar panels for the test site, and that’s what will be supplied going forward.

One of the first Resilient Energy Collective sites to go live was at Goongerah Community Hall in East Gippsland, Victoria (pictured above) where almost half the homes were destroyed by fire. The system was unfolded and rolled out of a truck in under a day, and is providing 24-hour power at zero cost to residents. Another site was at Cobargo in New South Wales, with that system helping to reconnect 24-our electricity to vital emergency communications towers.

In addition to the solar panels from Risen Energy and Tesla batteries, Enphase IQ 7+ microinverters will be used for the Resilient Energy Collective systems. The initiative is aiming to install solar and battery systems at up to 100 sites across Australia affected by bushfires and floods.