The Berri Barmera council is calling on the Federal Government to provide more funding for solar energy projects in South Australia.
Council CEO David Beaton says the state is at a disadvantage under the current funding model because it does not produce as much carbon as other states.
Mr Beaton says the state only received $80,000 of the $42 million available in the last round of funding.
He says clean energy is being under-utilised in regions such as the Riverland because of the current funding criteria.
“We have the interconnector from Victoria, which is the highest producer for carbon for their electricity … that comes into South Australia, so just to judge it on the South Australian input isn’t necessarily valid. … if we’re going to get torpedoed by the criteria, we need to have a look at getting that criteria changed,” he said.
Mr Beaton says there are a number of groups in the region that could benefit from solar energy projects.
“We’ve got some of our sporting bodies that want to put in solar panels to look after the electricity burdens that they have to try and control,” he said.
“The Barmera Bowling Club were looking to try to put in some solar panels, so if … there’s an ability with some of these programs to put in an application for the community, that would be good.”
