Remote First Nations communities are increasingly using renewable energy infrastructure to address chronic power insecurity, drawing investor interest while reducing long-term operating costs for governments and utilities.

In the Northern Territory, far north Queensland, WA's Kimberley region, and the APY lands of South Australia, energy customers – predominantly Indigenous households – have historically relied on prepaid electricity systems and diesel generators.

First Nations communities – with support from not-for-profit Original Power – have begun implementing renewable energy projects to increase power reliability and decrease energy costs, initiatives that are now attracting public and private investment.

After persistent disconnections for years, in June 2024, the community of Marlinja – north of Tennant Creek – completed a $1 million solar microgrid, raising two-thirds of the funding independently, with the project a breakthrough in Indigenous-led infrastructure development.

Karrina Nolan, a descendant of the Yorta Yorta people and Original Power executive director, said solar powering remote communities in the NT made sense.

"Community ownership models like Marlinja are the best way to ensure that the benefits of cheaper, cleaner energy are delivered directly back to local families and businesses," she said.

Original Power clean energy program director Lauren Mellor said prepaid electricity systems had proven costly, unreliable, and largely unregulated, leading to frequent disconnections and severe social consequences.

"In the Northern Territory, some 10,000 predominantly First Nations energy customers in urban and remote communities relied on a mandated pre-payment electricity metering arrangement," she told ABC's Radio National program on Wednesday.

According to Ms Mellor, disconnections among prepaid users occurred every four days on average, and even more frequently during heatwaves.

"We actually saw disconnections happening on average every three days. This is for a period of 8 to 10 hours or more," she said.

The lack of consumer protections and regulatory oversight compounded the issue.

Unlike standard postpaid systems used in most urban areas, prepaid customers in the NT were not covered by typical hardship measures, and disconnection data was not publicly reported, making the issue somewhat irrelevant in policy debates.

Ms Mellor said the first step to addressing power issues was overcoming pre-payment barriers, citing regulatory and operational challenges to ensure prepaid meters could receive and reflect solar-generated credit.

"It took 2 to 3 years of working with the retailer and [NT's] Power and Water Corporation," she said.

A larger-scale project in Borroloola – set to begin construction later this year and valued at $16 million – would be the NT's first utility-scale, majority First Nations-owned solar microgrid.

The project was expected to reduce household electricity costs by up to 80 per cent and generate approximately $1.2 million in annual diesel savings for the NT government.

"Communities were actually leading the way, unlocking investment and upgrading power systems for the benefit of not only that community but also the Northern Territory government," Ms Mellor said.

Original Power has urged the NT Utilities Commission to revise its retail code to include prepaid customers, and begin formal reporting of disconnection data.

The organisation argued data transparency was essential to informing investment, regulation, and policy decisions.

"It is a shame those communities don't have capacity to pay," Ms Mellor said.

"But instead of taking responsibility for addressing the price crisis, governments are instead putting that responsibility back, in a punitive sense, through automated disconnection."

She emphasised strategic investment in low-cost generation was essential to stabilising electricity prices in remote areas.

"Most Australians understand that the path to bringing power prices down is to invest in lower-cost generation," she said.

"That needs to apply to remote and First Nations communities."

She said the success of Indigenous-led microgrid projects was evidence removing regulatory and financial barriers could accelerate the renewables transition.

"These projects are exciting not only because of the cost savings, but because they create opportunities for partnerships between communities, government, and industry," Ms Mellor said.

As Australia moves to decarbonise its energy sector, First Nations-led projects in remote regions are emerging as an ethical imperative and a commercially viable model, with investors and policymakers watching closely as communities pave a path toward energy sovereignty and long-term resilience.