CHALLENGE
South Australian remote power specialist CD Power pioneering a project with sheep and cattle producer Jumbuck Pastoral that looks set to provide a proof of concept for remote Energy as a Service (EaaS) in the primary producer sector.
Clean energy is increasingly being embraced by Australia’s primary producers, bringing with it critical benefits including efficient energy use, improved productivity and lower emissions.
As farmers engage with the energy transition, the concept of Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) is demonstrating potential to support business owners to efficiently control and manage their energy spending.
Remote energy service provider CD Power has a vision to drive the uptake of remote Energy as a Service as a sustainable, risk-free, competitively priced remote energy system.
CD POWER & REMOTE EaaS
The EaaS model allows customers to pay only for the energy they use, without having to make any upfront capital investment.
CD Power provides regional primary producers across South Australia a range of primary and back-up power. It pays for the design, installation and management of remote energy systems, reducing customers’ associated diesel use by up to 80%.
The company has been working on the rollout of EaaS with leading South Australian station Jumbuck Pastoral, which controls over 50,000 square kilometres of holdings supporting 320,000 head of sheep and 80,000 head of cattle.
Since 2021, Tom Reid, Director of CD Power, has been collaborating with Jock MacLachlan, Managing Director of Jumbuck, using a CD Power installed and commissioned EaaS proof of concept project at McCoy’s Well, a Jumbuck station in the North East Pastoral region of South Australia, to identify, analyse & validate the benefits of an EaaS model for the remote Agri sector of Australia.
Using digital technology installed within CD Powers state-of-the-art EaaS equipment, the project has captured data and managed the technical, and operational risks of remotely located equipment over the course of more than a year, and have demonstrated the fuel savings and cost efficiencies from well managed equipment.
“We know the benefit of using data to better manage the site’s equipment, while we also have the 35+ year experience for operating equipment for delivering reliable continuous power. The data showed us insightful efficiency opportunities, while the project refined our operational experience as we managed both anticipated, and unknown technical challenges while achieving increased continuous power reliability for those living at McCoys Well.” says Reid. “In short the past year, has saved Jock’s fuel usage by about 70%, down to just 4,700 litres, compared to the 14,700 litres he would have burned if not for our EaaS equipment, while his all in cost for energy consumption at site was reduced by 5%.”
“While significant fuel use reduction and cost savings are the obvious and immediate benefits, the sum of many additional incremental benefits helped cement the EaaS model for Jock”, says Reid.
Only by having equipment operating on-site is when you truly realised there are a number of additional risks, and hence additional potential costs are very real. Modelled assumptions are discovered to have some variation relative to reality. Technology hiccups, equipment under or over usage impacts, or even the simplicity of managing equipment or workmanship warranties in remote locations all start to become real and tangible for both the outcome of continuous reliable power and cost.
RISK MANAGEMENT & COMMERCIAL ALIGNMENT
The flexibility underpinned through Risk mitigation is a key advantage of the EaaS approach, Reid says, particularly critical for the primary producer sector. MacLachlan’s interest was cemented by the certainty afforded in having a partner providing reliable power; for example, if the diesel generator dies, CD will replace it, or if the site needs larger equipment for its power then its provided.
“The secret sauce of our model for Jock has been alignment of CD Powers commercial benefits to Jumbucks’s user benefits.”
“Essentially, if he doesn’t get power, we don’t get paid.”
“By far and away, the most interesting thing about this for MacLachlan is it creates a clear ongoing partnership for the responsibility of delivering reliable continuous & renewable power; the fact is we are aligned, and if he has power problems, then they are very much our problems which we are clearly incentivised to resolve immediately.”
For primary producers, risk mitigation, the pivot away from onerous capex to opex along with clear efficiency gains, mean EaaS solutions provided by companies such as CD Power are taking the pain out of the transition to more sustainable practices, and bringing clear cost benefits.
