Manilla model for hydrogen future spurs 'fundamental transition' for national energy market

The small town has spent years developing its own solar power plant, which will be owned by the community.

In March, Tamworth-based Providence Asset Group announced it would help build the first hydrogen battery in NSW, a world-first of its scale.

This week the company announced it would roll out the Manilla model to as many as 28 towns in NSW. It has its eyes on more sites in Victoria.

Cutting-edge hydrogen battery technology will be rolled out at every site.

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Chief Technical Officer Llewellyn Owens said it was the largest portfolio of community projects ever delivered in Australia.

They proved the concept in "a little office off Bourke street in Tamworth," he said.

"That's pretty much where we came up with the idea. That's where the engineering was based."

The Tamworth local said the idea was to build smaller renewable energy projects for local use, that would not require massive new infrastructure.

"We wanted to find a way to work into the community without also impacting the grid.

"That's where these community solar farms were born. You can put small projects in, in a way that actually you don't need to upgrade the infrastructure, you reduce the electricity costs and the communities can benefit."

The company already has 20 sites confirmed and under lease. DAs have been lodged for projects in South Tamworth, Guyra, Manilla and Gunnedah.

He said the massive project would help bring a "fundamental transition" to the national energy market.

"I think a mix of all these solutions are key, community, people having solar on their roof is also very important.

"A variety of these solutions is the pathway to how you get to a sustainable energy source,"

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The massive solar farm portfolio will cost half-a-billion dollars to build out. Construction is expected to start in 2021 and should be completed by April 2022.

Mr Owens said the communities would enjoy substantially cheaper energy prices by essentially generating their own power.

The storage component of the projects would have enough juice to power 40,000 homes for six hours during peak demand on its own.

Each project is likely to create as many as 100 jobs during the construction phase. Because they involve storage they're likely to remain significant employers even after completion.

Providence Asset Group also has offices in Sydney.

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