Powering resilience: Green mobile energy hubs for disaster-hit communities

Challenge

Queensland communities face increasingly complex risks from floods, cyclones and other natural disasters.

When extreme weather damages electricity infrastructure, communities can lose access to essential services at precisely the time they are most needed. Hospitals, evacuation centres, disaster management facilities, communications systems and other critical infrastructure may require electricity even when sections of the electricity network are damaged or isolated.

Disasters can also displace families into temporary shelters, creating an additional challenge: providing reliable power to people who have lost access to their normal homes and services.

Traditional approaches to electricity network restoration can take time, particularly when infrastructure has been damaged across a large area.

The research addresses the need for a flexible, mobile and low-emission source of temporary electricity that can be strategically positioned before or after a disaster. 

Solution

CQUniversity's Driving Resilience: Harnessing Green Mobile Energy Hubs (GMEHs) for Electrical Distribution Network and Displaced Communities Resilience project is developing mobile green energy hubs that can be transported on trucks and deployed where power is most urgently needed.

The hubs are designed to:

• provide temporary electricity to isolated critical loads
• support communities in temporary shelters
• maintain essential services following floods and cyclones
• operate as part of disaster response and recovery planning
• reduce downtime while damaged electricity infrastructure is restored. 

A key part of the research is developing models to optimise the allocation and routing of the mobile energy hubs.

Researchers will consider both long-term planning before disasters and short-term operational decisions after an event, helping determine where units should be positioned and how they can be deployed most effectively. 

The approach recognises that disasters can create cascading impacts across multiple interconnected systems. Rather than simply restoring individual sections of the electricity network, the research aims to optimise the broader deployment of mobile energy resources to maintain critical services. 

Impact

Faster restoration of essential services

Mobile energy hubs could provide temporary electricity while damaged infrastructure is repaired, helping reduce downtime and maintain access to critical services following major disasters. 

Stronger disaster resilience

The research provides a new approach to strengthening electricity network resilience before, during and after extreme weather events.

By modelling potential disaster scenarios in advance, energy hubs could be strategically positioned so they can be deployed rapidly when and where they are needed.

Supporting displaced communities

Importantly, the project extends beyond electricity network infrastructure.

Mobile power units could provide electricity to temporary shelters, schools and disaster management centres, helping displaced communities maintain essential services during recovery. 

Greener disaster response

Using green mobile energy hubs creates an opportunity to incorporate renewable and lower-emission energy technologies into disaster response, supporting both resilience and Queensland's broader transition towards cleaner energy.

Translating research into disaster preparedness

The more than $1 million investment from the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund demonstrates confidence in the research's potential to address a significant community and infrastructure challenge. 

The project brings together research, government and industry to develop a practical solution that could ultimately strengthen Queensland's ability to prepare for and recover from extreme weather.