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REDS at Mugga Mugga

Renewable Energy Demonstration Site (REDS)
Mugga-Mugga Homestead, Canberra, Australia

After several years, Uniflow Power is relocating its fully operational prototype Cobber demonstrator from the Mugga Mugga Heritage Farm to a new REDS at the end of Joe Rocks Road on the Lake George Escarpment near Bungendore. Surrounded by vineyards, olive groves, hobby farms and large rural homes, our new site is part of a modern rural BnB. This makes it ideal, like Mugga Mugga Cottage before it, for demonstrating the capacity of the Cobber to heat and power a home.

The new site will be up and running in April 2025.

There will be further updates to this page in coming months.

The perfect location to showcase the Cobber to the world.

Placing REDS at Mugga Mugga Homestead means that Uniflow has ready access to:

  • Australian Government Agencies engaged in development and poverty alleviation
  • The Diplomatic Community and representatives of developing country markets
  • International Delegations from global development banks
  • NGOs both Australian and international

Through this collaboration with ACT Historic Places, we maintain a close relationship with the ACT Government and its programs. The easy access and highly visible location mean that our technology is regularly demonstrated to official visitors and the wider community.

The Cobber is located in the powerhouse next to Curley’s Cottage. It provides electricity to the house via a 12-kWh battery through our microgrid. Space heating and hot water are provided to the cottage from a 1000 litre thermal storage tank which is heated by the Cobber’s Heat Energy Recovery Unit (HERU).

At REDS the Cobber keeps the cottage powered using hydronic heating even in the depths of winter.

Day or night, irrespective of the weather, the Cobber keeps Curley’s Cottage powered.

Hedley starting up the Cobber on a frosty morning.

Feed rainwater tank and thermal storage behind the powerhouse.

As well as our demonstration site, REDS is also used to conduct research into the fuel efficiency of a range of agricultural residues and industry by-products.

Recent testing has been experimenting with macadamia shell as a mixed fuel with carpenter’s off-cuts.

If you can light a fire, you can make power.