It was recently announced that construction was about to begin on Australia’s first community-owned solar farm, in Queensland’s Hervey Bay. Ingenero, a Queensland solar company, was awarded the contract to build the 396-kW solar farm.

In addition to the solar farm project, it was also announced that ABB Australia had been awarded a contract to build a 266-kW solar panel system at the Hervey Bay Hospital.

As I mentioned a couple times in my CNBC interview on “Energy Opportunities,” solar power doesn’t only offer environmental benefits. Decentralized solar power offers community benefits, as well. It seems the folks in Queensland (and Australia, in general) get this.

“Importantly, these projects will help reduce energy costs as well as carbon emissions,” Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said. The hospital will save approximately $20,000/year in electricity costs, for example.  The projects will also create local jobs and improve the quality of life in the area.

Victoria, Australia is also looking to get its first community-owned solar farm up soon, as are residents in several other parts of Australia.

More on Australia solar farms and government policies.

Photo Credit:  Some rights reserved by GregTheBusker

Zachary Shahan (2302 Posts)

I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on some of your favorite social networks, go to zacharyshahan.com or click on some of the links below.