A groundbreaking collaboration between a Victorian regional community, a digital energy company and the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has been named as Australia’s winner in the 23rd Energy Globe Awards.
Billed as the world’s most prestigious environmental award and as “the most important award for sustainability worldwide”, the Energy Globe Award for MyTown Microgrid, a local energy project hosted by the historic Victorian timber town of Heyfield.
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Co-led by its core partners: Heyfield Community Resource Centre (HCRC), UTS ISF and Wattwatchers Digital Energy, MyTown Microgrid explored the feasibility of a microgrid and other local energy solutions for Heyfield, a mixed farming and timber community with a population of around 2,000 about 200km east of Melbourne in the Wellington Shire.
With funding support from the Federal and Victorian governments, the Heyfield Community Resource Centre collaborated with researchers and tech companies to address the town’s energy challenges.
Spanning three years from mid-2020 to mid-2023, the project involved research, technical assessments and the development of a decision support tool. Real-time energy monitoring devices were installed across homes, businesses, and schools, offering insights on energy consumption and sustainability.
The Energy Globe selection jury noted, “MyTown prioritised community engagement, job creation, and inclusive decision-making, resulting in a free online tool to benefit other communities. Through its holistic approach, MyTown serves as a model for sustainable energy solutions in rural areas.”
UTS ISF research director Dr Scott Dwyer said that while a microgrid proved to be the wrong fit for Heyfield, the MyTown process had helped bring the community closer to reaching its energy goals with other options identified “that look much more promising.”
“Now Heyfield knows exactly where it needs to focus its efforts, while it has already built the capacity and knowledge it needs for the next step in the journey towards a better and fairer energy future,” he said.
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The MyTown project lives on in Heyfield as the MyTown Energy committee, continuing to work on local energy solutions, and beyond Heyfield as a guiding beacon for other communities.
The Energy Globe Award is the world’s most prestigious environmental award, which is awarded annually in more than 180 countries by the nonprofit Energy Globe Organization based in Austria.
