Located in Victoria's remote high country, Licola Wilderness Village has become the first Victorian town to go completely off grid with solar energy.

Key points: Licola installed 600 solar panels and two huge batteries to produce its own power

Licola installed 600 solar panels and two huge batteries to produce its own power The facilities in the abandoned sawmill town are now owned by the Lions Club

The facilities in the abandoned sawmill town are now owned by the Lions Club Located 50km from the nearest electricity grid, Licola has historically been powered by diesel generators

Located 50 kilometres from the nearest electricity grid, Licola has historically been powered by diesel generators.

Licola Wilderness Village CEO and operations manager Tony Davis said the move to solar power had reduced energy-production costs and carbon emissions by 90 per cent.

"Licola is very much a world's best practice now for what is called a micro grid," Mr Davis said.

"We're a small, totally self-sufficient, totally off-grid system."

Licola is a recreational camping town, which pumps all its water from the nearby Macalister River.

Mr Davis said the rising costs of diesel had meant the camp was spending $135,000 a year to keep the generators going.

"The energy we produce via our solar systems can power the entire town," he said.

"It would be very easy to replicate in many small communities that are remote and off the grid across the country."

Tony Davis, Noreen Carr and Brad Underhill celebrate Licola Wilderness Village's conversion to solar power. ( ABC Gippsland: Rachael Lucas )

A camping village for disadvantaged students

Licola is an abandoned sawmill town. In 1969, the Lions Clubs of Victoria and New South Wales bought the town facilities for $20,000.

The club bought the town to create a recreational camping village for disadvantaged students. The idea was originally inspired by similar summer camps in the USA.

The village has 16 cabins, 270 beds, staff quarters, a swimming pool, a sports stadium and a church, and hosts about 1,500 children each year.

The camp is funded by a combination of money raised from Lions clubs across the state, bequests and the hiring out of the village.

Solar power comes to Licola

The cost of diesel had increased the costs of power so much that running the camp was becoming unsustainable.

The solar panel system involves 600 solar panels positioned to capture different angles of the sun throughout the day.

The solar energy is then harnessed into a pair of 37-tonne batteries stored in two large shipping containers.

An Australian-designed inverter converts the power to 240 volts.

Licola's remoteness has seen its power traditionally come from diesel generators. ( ABC Gippsland: Rachael Lucas )

Project solar engineer Peter McKernan said the camp hoped to cover the costs of installing the solar system in seven years.

"When I first started in solar, we paid $13 a watt. Solar systems now cost around 46 cents a watt, it's made it so affordable," he said.

"Things like this are now competitive with coal generation and are now in fact cheaper than diesel generation."

As Licola is located at the base of a mountainous valley, diesel generators will remain in place as a backup source of energy generation over winter and periods of low sunlight.

Savings will secure camp's future

"From Lions' perspective, the most important thing is that we run it as a camp for disadvantaged children, children with disabilities, seniors who like to come up here as a group and the general public," said Noreen Carr, who has been a member of the Licola Wilderness Village board of directors for the past 17 years.

The annual savings on diesel expenditure will enable the Lions Club to expand the camp, run more programs throughout the year, improve accessible facilities for children, seniors and the general public.

"We put these fantastic air conditioners and heaters in all the cabins and halls," village board secretary Brad Underhill said.

"We're now going to be able to have kids up here in the middle of winter because we're going to have these savings."