Indigo Power’s Managing Director, Ben McGowan, reflects on our partnership with TRY.
Ten years ago, Totally Renewable Yackandandah (TRY) embarked on an ambitious journey to transform their community’s energy future. Along the way, they developed the Renewable Energy Roadmap, which laid the foundation for Indigo Power. Many of the individuals who helped establish Indigo Power were deeply involved with TRY in its early years, creating a lasting bond between our two organisations.
This strong relationship was celebrated on November 16, as Indigo Power joined the celebrations for TRY’s tenth anniversary at the Yackandandah Public Hall.
TRY’s Renewable Energy Roadmap, developed in partnership with AusNet Services, set out a simple but bold plan:
- Work with households to increase clean energy adoption—solar panels, batteries, smart controllers, heat pumps, and more.
- Establish a community energy retailer (Indigo Power) to enable energy sharing across the region.
- Add community-scale renewable energy generation and storage to achieve 100% renewable energy.
TRY has excelled at step one, working tirelessly with the community to achieve remarkable results. In Yackandandah, solar power now lights up 65% of all homes!
Indigo Power’s story began with step two in 2017, when TRY secured funding from the Victorian Government’s New Energy Jobs Fund to create a business plan for a community energy retailer. Supported by Indigo Shire Council and Mondo, the plan was developed in 2017-18, leading to the incorporation of Indigo Power as a public unlisted company. Our founding directors—Helen Haines, Ann Telford, Rowan O’Hagan, Matt Grogan, and myself—focused first on establishing an electricity retail service.
In November 2019, we launched the Yackandandah Community Energy Hub, a landmark moment for community energy sharing. Through Mondo’s Ubi technology, customers could track how much of their energy was shared with other local Indigo Power users. We later extended this capability to all customers via our billing system.
As energy sharing flourished, the Yackandandah Hub faced an oversupply of solar energy. TRY, ever forward-thinking, had already begun developing a community battery at the Agency of Sculpture workshop. With funding and support from TRY, the Victorian Government and Indigo Power, the battery project launched in July 2021, marking another milestone in community energy innovation.
We’ve continued to work closely with TRY. We’ve adopted their approach to energy resilience, replicating TRY’s efforts to provide backup power to the CFA and other emergency response stations in communities impacted by the blacksummer bushfires of 2019/20. And we’ve worked together to deliver and operate a public EV charging station in Yackandandah.
After ten incredible years, TRY has become a leader in community renewable energy. We are proud to celebrate their accomplishments and look forward to continuing our partnership as we work toward creating 100% renewable energy communities within the critical timelines set by climate change.
Here’s to TRY’s vision, determination, and commitment over the past decade—and to many more years of shared success!
Ben is Indigo Power’s Managing Director. He has a passion for collaborative initiatives that positively impact our communities. Ben leads our skilled and committed projects team, driving the uptake of community-scale clean energy technologies in communities around Australia.