February 4, 2014
Wide Bay residents have been turning in droves to solar power with the most solar photovoltaic installations in regional Queensland being recorded in the region.
According to Ergon Energy, the top five solar PV towns across in regional areas are all in Wide Bay: Hervey Bay, Childers, Kilkivan, Bundaberg and Gin Gin.
At the end of December 2013, Hervey Bay led the way with 6442 premises with solar PV, a penetration rate of 23 per cent.
In the local area, Kilkivan had 528 premises (22 per cent), Yarraman/Nanango 936 (19 per cent), Kingaroy 1063 (15 per cent), Murgon 514 (13 per cent) and Proston 87 (12 per cent).
In actual number terms, Townsville is at the top of the leader-board with 12,589 systems installed at the end of 2013.
It is followed by Toowoomba with 8289 solar PV systems.
At the other end of the scale, a number of remote communities in Far North Queensland have less than 1 per cent penetration of solar PV systems.
An Ergon spokesman said the corporation had not done any research to explain the regional variations, but it seemed the solar PV industry had paid the most attention in its marketing campaigns to areas closest to Brisbane, especially the Wide Bay-Burnett region.
