The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has provided grant funding to 18 off‐grid and fringe‐of‐grid renewable energy projects under the Regional Australia's Renewables (RAR) program since 2013. This program was designed to address real and perceived risks associated with early stage, precommercial renewable energy development and provide a foundation for developing the competitive renewable energy sector. These projects range from low to high renewable energy fractions at megawatt scale in remote regions of Australia and encompass a variety of sectors, such as mining, tourism, and remote communities. All projects use photovoltaic as a key technology, often supplemented by additional technologies.
Ekistica’s Bert Herteleer and Lyndon Frearson co-authored the publication “Identifying risks, costs, and lessons from ARENA‐funded off‐grid renewable energy projects in regional Australia” with ARENA. It was first presented at the 2017 European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and has since been published in Progress in Photovoltaics.