{"id":33824,"date":"2026-08-26T09:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/?p=33824"},"modified":"2026-08-26T12:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:05:46","slug":"up-the-creek-not-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/26\/up-the-creek-not-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Up the Creek? Not now."},"content":{"rendered":"

I know, I know – it’s a question you’ve been asking yourself for years: How big is the world’s largest cattle station?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, it occupies an area of almost 16,000km which, to put it in perspective, is larger than some countries. It’s located in South Australia; and it’s called Anna Creek.<\/p>\n

Victron installer MyEnergy Engineering<\/a> recently won the Master Electricians Australia<\/em> Project of the Year award – for installations over $1M AUS – for their solar based power installations at the Williams Cattle Company’s<\/a> seven stations, including Anna Creek.<\/p>\n

The scale of the task, together with the logistics required to keep it all to schedule are baffling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div><\/a>Far beyond the reach of the electricity grid, for decades Anna station has relied on diesel generation for its power.<\/p>\n

Running a generator hundreds of kilometres away from towns and cities brings headaches of its own …getting fuel supplies, sourcing engine parts for maintenance and servicing – or calling out an engineer if something’s actually gone wrong.<\/p>\n

Even when the generator goes down with a problem you can solve yourself, there’ll be no power until you’ve put it back together again.<\/p>\n

Quite apart from that, running a generator as your sole source of power is the most expensive way to produce electricity.

\"\"<\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

The station uses electricity to run agricultural plant, and for the comfort of the farm hands. There’s air conditioning, refrigeration, kitchen equipment and radio communications, together with the station infrastructure of pumps and cutting rooms.<\/p>\n

Seven cattle stations in the region are owned by Mathew Williams<\/em> whose family bought their first station in 1967 – acquiring Anna Creek ten years ago. \u00a0Today all the William’s stations benefit from solar power.<\/p>\n

Each station has a manager and up to eight hands including a cook\u2028. Together they are responsible for rearing approximately 17,000 cattle \u2028- Poll Hereford, Angus and Angus-cross. Overseeing the calving and seasonal fattening operations is work they carry out\u2028 to the highest standards – and for which the station has a number of Organic and husbandry accreditations including:<\/p>\n