00:00When a storm lashed the state's southeast in October,
00:07Grayson's Brisbane apartment was one of tens of thousands of homes to lose power,
00:12meaning no air conditioning and no fans.
00:15Especially at night when you're trying to sleep and it's humid and hot,
00:18so that was very uncomfortable.
00:20It quickly became an expensive night too.
00:23So yeah, we just kind of got rid of everything that was in there.
00:26Freezer stock and then stock in our fridge as well.
00:29So yeah, I would say close to 200.
00:31Others were worse off.
00:33There's some people in the building who are elderly and rely on the lift function,
00:37so when there is no power they have to use the stairs.
00:40With storms expected to intensify, experts are sounding the alarm.
00:44The Australian power grid is long, lean and sparsely connected,
00:48making it vulnerable to natural disasters and storms and wild weather events.
00:53Researchers say artificial intelligence could be used to predict outages
00:57and batteries will play a key role.
01:00What we can do is operate this section of the network as microgrids
01:04with certain technologies such as grid forming inverter based battery systems.
01:08Energy Queensland is already setting up community battery sites around the state,
01:13while trials of microgrids are also underway.
01:16We'll be able to operate in an islanded mode in those local communities,
01:22which means they'll be able to be more resilient.
01:25This technology carries a hefty price tag,
01:28with each microgrid and battery costing millions of dollars.
01:32We've got to make sure that they're financially prudent and efficient solutions.
01:37But keeping the lights on for longer could save consumers more than just money in the long run.
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