88 Time November 8/November 15, 2021
The conTenTs of norman frank’s
fridge could mean the difference between
life and death. His doctor told him to drink
cold water for his kidney trouble, and to keep
his medicines, which help manage his diabe-
tes and other health problems, chilled. But
he doesn’t have a full-time job, and struggles
to afford electricity.
So Frank, a 49-year-old Warumungu
Traditional Owner—a term used in Austra-
lia to describe members of an Aboriginal
group with historical claims to land—uses
the power he gets from the utility com-
pany sparingly. And he says what he does
use is expensive. For the home where he
lives with his wife and five children in Ten-
nant Creek, a town on the fringes of Aus-
tralia’s vast Northern Territory deserts, the
monthly electric bill runs about $200, he
says. After other necessities like rent and
food, he’s left with almost nothing of his
government disability pension at the end of
the month.
In July, the nonprofit Original Power, an Aboriginal
community organization that focuses on energy issues,
helped Frank install solar panels that stretch about
half the length of the roof of his government-owned
one-story, three-bedroom house. It seemed a wise
move: with almost 300 sunny days per year, Tennant
Creek has some of the clearest skies in the world. But
although the physical infrastructure to produce solar
energy may be in place on Frank’s roof, the Northern
Territory has not yet produced the corresponding bu-
reaucratic infrastructure that will allow him to use it.
It’s a matter not of science but of tariff systems, pre-
paid meters and permissions, and without all of them,
the solar panels are useless to Frank.
Meanwhile, three hours north of Frank’s home, upW H A T
GREEN
POWER
OWES
T H E
PEOPLE
By Amy Gunia and Aneeta Bhole/
Tennant Creek, Australia
C S G
Norman Frank’s
daughter Neetu and
grandson Ashuan
sit in the dark in
order to conserve
energy in his home in
Tennant Creek