Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance has received funding to plan for the upgrading of community halls throughout the Eurobodalla to emergency havens

The plan will see SHASA create shovel-ready plans to upgrade community buildings to become heatwave and bushfire havens, as was done earlier this year at Moruya preschool.

The plans will include calculating the cost for installing solar panels and battery storage, reverse cycle air-conditioning and HEPA air-filtration systems. These costings enable community groups and SHASA to easily apply for future grants to carry out the required work. St Vincent's will also fund some of the upgrades.

SHASA president Kathryn Maxwell said the Black Summer bushfires demonstrated how reliant the community was upon electricity and communications infrastructure, and simultaneously how vulnerable the system was.

"We are bound by mountains on one side and the sea on the other, our electricity grid is more like a line, and it's hard to justify multiple supply lines - a true grid - when the population is relatively small," Ms Maxwell said.

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"Our approach has been to develop multiple nodes instead, with community owned buildings able to act as island producers when the line goes down."

SHASA, in partnership with Micro Energy Systems Australia, has so far installed solar systems on 16 community buildings in the Eurobodalla, with more planned for the future.

One such building being upgraded for the good of the community is the CWA Moruya Hall.

The Federal Bushfire Recovery Grants awarded $82,486 for the upgrading of the building to include solar power, batteries, a backup generator, HEPA filters, protective shutters and other emergency equipment.

Ms Maxwell said upgrading community buildings made sense and reduced their running costs, which helped these important community organisations to keep functioning.

CWA Moruya president Sandra Bramble said reducing operating costs through installing solar allowed the group to inject more money into supporting the local community.

The strategic plan, funded by the St Vincent de Paul Society, will be completed by the end of 2022.