Off-grid and hybrid solar for Nimbin and the hills behind Lismore
Nimbin is half an hour up the road from our Lismore desk. Plenty of places out here have run on their own power for decades, and a lot of those old lead-acid banks and tired inverters are due for a rethink. Others are on the grid but sick of losing it every time a big storm rolls over the Nightcap. Either way, we start with the property.
What power's like out here
You're on Essential Energy's network out here, mostly long rural feeders running through steep, timbered country. Trees on lines and slips after heavy rain are the usual reasons the power drops, and the further up the valley you are, the longer it can take to come back.
Nimbin sits in Lismore City Council. Lismore and the surrounding hills went through the 2022 floods, when the Wilsons River at Lismore peaked at about 14.4 m, the highest on record. In the hills the bigger problem was roads cut by landslips, which can leave a property without mains power or a way in for days.
Fire is the other risk. The Nightcap National Park, right behind Nimbin, burnt in the 2019 fire season.
Block sizes run from village lots to multiple-occupancy and rural landsharing communities on large acreage. Those shared sites are a design job of their own: several homes, sheds and pumps, sometimes on one meter or none.
How we work here
Every system is designed by The Off Grid Shop in Lismore, sized around how you use power through a wet winter week. A vetted, accredited local installer does the install and the paperwork. You deal with one design team the whole way through, and the installer is close enough to come back if something needs a look.
- Tell us about the property on our design form.
- We design the system in-house and send you the design.
- A vetted, accredited local partner installs it. See our recent work.
Common questions
Can I go fully off-grid in Nimbin?
Yes, and plenty of people already have. The design covers a run of wet, cloudy days, so battery size and generator backup matter more here than on the tablelands. We size it from your real loads.
I've got an old off-grid system. Can you upgrade it?
Usually. Many older Nimbin systems run lead-acid batteries and early inverters. We look at what's worth keeping, like panels and frames, and design the battery and inverter upgrade around it.
Can one system run a shared community or several houses?
It can, but it needs careful design for multiple dwellings, long cable runs and separate metering. Tell us how the site is laid out and we'll work through it.
Is there help with the cost?
Federal support can apply to eligible solar and batteries. It changes, so we check it on each design. The current details are on our rebates page.
Get a custom design
Four quick questions and a designer comes back to you:
- Postcode
- On the grid or off-grid?
- Rough quarterly power bill
- Phone number
Nearby places we cover
The Channon, Blue Knob, Goolmangar, Tuntable Creek, Barkers Vale, Coffee Camp, Lillian Rock, Stony Chute, Homeleigh
More reading
Get a custom design
Four quick questions and a designer comes back to you: postcode, on the grid or off-grid, rough quarterly power bill, phone number.
Prefer to talk it through? Call or text 0483 927 257.