First Nations entrepreneur Marliee Liddell hopes to change people's attitudes toward using clean energy, one rooftop wind turbine at a time.

A descendant of the Worora and Nyul-Nyul people from the Kimberley region, Ms Liddell started Laauwan Energy Solutions Australia in 2024 with business partner Robert Craig because she wanted to provide greater power, reliability, and accessibility for mob in the community, especially in remote areas.

The Boorloo/Perth-based renewable energy company is the premier retailer of the Archimedes Spiral Wind Turbine in Western Australia. The turbine is designed to capture wind from multiple directions efficiently while remaining quiet, bird-friendly, and compact.

Ms Liddell said she went to South Korea in early 2025 to see the research, development, and wind-tunnel testing of the turbines firsthand.

"When you talk about wind turbines, people's minds automatically go to the wind farms, so we tell people it's for the rooftop, and it's very quiet," she said.

"It's less than 43 decibels, which is what we speak at, and it's environmentally friendly.

"The wind turbine is our primary product, and we highlight it because it's a point of difference and you actually save money on your power if you have the right system set up."

The 55-year-old said the rooftop turbines would be ideal for many First Nations communities that rely on expensive prepaid electricity cards to access energy. Not to mention its use in some of the remote Indigenous housing, which is poorly built and poorly insulated.

Ms Liddell was also shocked to learn that several isolated First Nations communities were still relying on inefficient diesel backup power.

"It's costly, it's dangerous, it can be a hazard, and it can be dangerous in communities as well," she told The Indigenous Business Review.

"And even transporting it is dangerous, as well as being environmentally challenging."

While the spiral wind turbine might be its flagship model, the business also offers several add-ons, including the company's wind and solar hybrid controller, a crucial component in renewable energy systems.

There's also the on-grid brake-inverter, which helps connect small wind turbines to the grid.

However, Ms Liddell said one of the challenges with any renewable technology was convincing mob to use it. But she noted those barriers also existed for non-Indigenous people.

"I think it's all about knowledge and information," she said.

"Some people can see the vision, while some can't.

"I think once people understand the concepts, and it's doing things a little bit differently.

"But it's a major disruptor and game changer."

Since the business started two years ago, Ms Liddell has been pounding on the doors of governments and private investors, trying to sell the rooftop wind turbines.

While she received the standard reply, "we will get back to you in two weeks", Ms Liddell refused to take no for an answer because she is passionate about the product.

Eventually, the company was offered the opportunity to install systems at Fortescue Metals Group's flagship iron ore mining operation, Cloudbreak, in the Pilbara.

She hopes it's the start of something big.

"You just got to keep going, especially if you believe in the product, it will happen," she said.

"I've worked at BHP, I've worked across most of the big four in some shape or form, and they all have diesel generators running things.

"It's been bloody hard to get the miners to embrace it's a proven concept, and recently we had some systems put out in Cloudbreak.

"We ran the three dongers, an office block, crib room and ablutions block all fitted with solar battery and wind turbines out there."

Ms Liddell, who has more than 25 years' experience in Aboriginal community engagement and the mining, oil and gas industry, said that getting through the doors of big business and government was at times more challenging as a First Nations woman entrepreneur.

"I always get the 'what do you know about energy', she laughed.

"I guess from a woman's point of view, and an Aboriginal woman as well, you have to prove twice as hard that you can do something.

"I think it's just the nature of the beast at the moment, but I think that dial is shifting; it's just going to take some time."

The former Regional Women's Advisor for the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Commission said now was the perfect time for First Nations people to be part of Australia's clean energy revolution.

Especially since the launch of the federal government's first-ever First Nations Clean Energy strategy in late 2024, which recommended placing Indigenous Australians at the centre of the country's energy transformation.

"We need to sit at the table when it comes to energy and renewables," Ms Liddell said.

"For many years, we've been left out of the conversations, and for many years, we've just been told what to do.

"But we can change those dynamics by having a seat at the table."