Bushfire-ravaged communities have a chance to get the power back on quickly for vital communications and relief infrastructure, with a massive cash injection from a tech billionaire.

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie are funding a $12 million ‘resilient energy collective’.

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The initiative will mean the rapid installation of solar and battery off-grid set-ups that will power critical services across NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Within three weeks of forming, the group has restored electricity to emergency communications towers near the NSW town of Cobargo, used by police, Rural Fire Services, National Parks and the Eurobodalla shire.

Firefighters had been using diesel generators to power the towers, with one of the region’s four volunteer fire crews tied up for five hours a day refuelling them.

Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes is funding an energy collective to install solar and battery setups. Credit: AAP

In Victoria’s east Gippsland region, another off-grid solar and battery system has restored power to the Goongerah Community Hall.

The venue can now be used by residents for relief services, internet connections, refrigeration and community meetings.

The projects are using technology from NSW rapid roll-out solar company 5B and Tesla batteries.

Aiming high

Cannon-Brookes said the idea was to get the best technology and ingenuity to solve the massive problem of power outages in days, not months.

“After a horror summer, many Aussies need our help to get their lives back on track,” he said.

“We’ve got to do all we can to get them back on their feet.

“We’ve already rolled out in two locations, and we are ready to do more.

“We have the capacity to roll out up to 100 sites and we can fund and deploy them in the next 100 days if required.”

Making a difference

The successful businessman said he’s incredibly proud of the speedy results of his team.

“It’s staggering that we started three and a half weeks ago and already have multiple sites live,” Cannon-Brookes told 7NEWS.

“With the goal of being able to put a hundred sites live in a hundred days is impactful.

“To put one’s resources in and be able to see videos coming back from people that actually had things reconnected already - it’s pretty motivating.”

Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is funding an energy collective to install solar and battery setups. Credit: SUPPLIED / PR IMAGE

The collective is working with energy providers to identify further sites.

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One of the lessons Australia had to learn from the past summer was to invest in resilient, fast and flexible energy systems that didn’t hurt the planet, Cannon-Brookes said.

He believes many remote communities will operate with off-the-grid solar power all the time in the future.

Australian Army reacts

Meanwhile, Australia’s Army chief said the bushfire crisis was a sign of the future requirements of Defence.

Lieutenant General Rick Burr said he had learned a lot about the Army’s capabilities as a result of the fires.

“We know that we need to be an army for the nation and an army in the community,” he told a defence conference in Canberra on Monday.