FARMERS and agribusiness are expected to play a big role in the country's first community-owned power retailer, which is on track to be buying, selling and investing in renewable energy in the Northern Rivers region by January 2016.
A consortium of businesses and "forward-thinking" members of the community have secured $54,000 in funding to put together a feasibility plan for the establishment of Northern Rivers Energy (NRE).
Those behind the plans believe the region has the potential to run entirely on renewable energy sources within seven to nine years and say, given the strong presence of farming and the economic benefits of investing in solar, primary producers will likely be at the forefront of the trail blazing efforts.
The business plan is due to be completed by June 30 next year with the start date for providing electricity of January 2016, when the current feed-in tariffs for solar cut out.
However, the asset management arm of the business - which would invest in generation by assisting to finance, install and maintain renewable energy systems - should be up and running before that, according to NRE members Alison Crook and Patrick Halliday.
NRE is hoping to work with clients ranging from house owners through to food manufacturers, schools, providers of affordable housing, caravan parks and retirement villages.
The large part of business will be rooftop solar panels and solar hot water, however, Mr Halliday said all technologies, including biomass from agriculture enterprises, would be part of the deal.
Wind, however, is not suitable to the Northern Rivers.
"There is a lot of scope to work with farmers, who have extensive rooftop solar opportunity with big sheds and other on-farm infrastructure," Mr Halliday said.
Ms Crook said the aim was to offer people a fairer price for the solar power they produce than was currently available.
Without pre-empting the feasibility study, she said the aim was to set up a business owned and operated by the community for the benefit of the community and the environment, rather than a profit-maximising to shareholders model.
She flagged a capped level of profit and said NRE would be "more a social enterprise", saying the Northern Rivers was the ideal community for that to happen in.
"We have all the ingredients necessary to demonstrate that communities can meet their energy needs without relying on fossil fuels and can still flourish while living in greater harmony with the environment," Ms Crook said.
"We already have a high level of take-up of solar and a community demonstrably aware of the reality of climate change and wanting to do something constructive about it.
"If any region can show how the renewable industry can both create employment and reduce its impact on the environment, this region can."
Funding for the business plan has come from private environmental campaigning group the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and the State government via its Office of Environment and Heritage.
TEC's Mark Byrne said there were several excellent tenders for the funds, but NRE had a sophisticated and thorough understanding of ways the community could be involved in such a business.
He said the plan was NRE could work with regional renewable energy generators, such as the new owner of the sugar mill co-generation plants at Condong and Broad-water, to turn the vision into reality.
Mr Halliday said solar farms could also be a possibility and green energy may be imported from outside the region.