Queensland's Daintree Rainforest does not have mains electricity, and a "microgrid" project designed to power homes and businesses in the region has been stalled.
It was a decision made by the Queensland Government in the 1990s, to help control development and over-population in the world's oldest surviving rainforest. In a statement, the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, said $1.55 million of the $18.75 million grant had been paid to the Volt Advisory Group."Due to confidentiality requirements that apply to all Commonwealth grants, the Department is unable to comment on the terms of the grant agreement with Volt Advisory.
Further down the road, 89-year-old Betty Hinton, a renowned botanical artist, has been running her Floravilla Ice Creamery since the 1980s, producing 60 flavours of biodynamic, organic ice cream.She switches between two diesel-powered generators that she services herself to make and keep her products cool, at a cost of $2,500 in fuel a month.
A 2019 KPMG report commissioned by the Queensland Government examining the viability of a microgrid in the area concluded "microgrid-based solutions do not appear to be the right long-term solution for the Daintree". "It's the secondary impact of further driving development in a place where we really ought to be promoting the conservation values," Mr Berwick said.Despite these concerns, Volt Advisory's director Richard Schoenemann said the "bulk of people" in the Daintree supported the project."It is very expensive, very dirty and very cumbersome to run a diesel generator to operate a resort.
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