## 3 Results
### Findings from the PESTEL Analysis
#### 3.4.1 Political Opportunities and Challenges  
Politically, there are opportunities related to access to government buildings. In particular, recreation sites or relief centres offer a good opportunity for Emergency DES technologies that have been previously been installed in Gippsland, an example is the \"Solar on Public Buildings Project\" funded by the Victorian government [66]. Other government  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**External Factor** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Opportunities**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Threats/Challenges**} \\ \hline Political & \(\bullet\) & Solar on Public buildings & \(\bullet\) & Consistent definition of “safe” \\  & projects & & across all government agencies \\ \hline Social & \(\bullet\) & Identifying important and isolated communities—pilot projects & \(\bullet\) & Research gap: impacts of lost (tele)-communication on emergency \\  & \(\bullet\) & Hierarchy of essential services & \(\bullet\) & What is considered an “essential service”? \\ \hline Technical & \(\bullet\) & Regional areas supplied by radial power networks & \(\bullet\) & Issues related to safety of batteries in fires, e.g., Tesla batteries are fire-resilient \\  & \(\bullet\) & battery storage would be useful in frequently disconnected areas & \(\bullet\) & Codified regions have their own set of network designs in response to wildfire risk (de-energising lines, underground service lines–adds to complexity) \\  & \(\bullet\) & connecting remote towns on single line to a microgrid is achievable but requires the collaboration with local utilities & \(\bullet\) & Required maintenance of technology may be challenging at the local level \\ \hline Environmental & \(\bullet\) & Cogeneration where different renewable energy generators are integrated can address the reliability of solar in this instance. & \(\bullet\) & Extended wildfire recovery/preparation \\  & & & \(\bullet\) & Wildfire smoke can reduce solar generation substantially—as low as 3\% of capacity but has year around benefits \\ \hline Legal & \(\bullet\) & Upgrade of public buildings & \(\bullet\) & Site-specific regulations for construction, licensing operation, etc. \\  & \(\bullet\) & Responsibility shared across multiple levels of governance & \(\bullet\) & Ownership/investment models \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 4: Political, social, technical, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) opportunities and challenges of Emergency DES adoption in East Gippsland.  
programs and policies include the Built Environment Plan or the Community Recovery Committee [67; 68]. A political challenge to the adoption of the Emergency DES concept is the definition of what constitutes \"safe\". This definition can determine whether systems can be located at refuge centres and whether they can be formally islanded. To derive an appropriate decision, all parties need to be engaged in the political process, including communities, councils, emergency agencies, Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs), state governments environmental agencies, e.g., Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), and others. Throughout this process, community consultation is a critical first step.