Members of the community heard why Bendigo Sustainability Group wants to push for the world’s sunniest nation to be powered by the sun and why the campaign is relevant to Bendigo.

BSG co-ordinator of the policy action group Karen Corr said the campaign launch went well.

“The community has got behind us in our plan of what we want for Bendigo,” she said.

“One of the parts of our vision is that Bendigo be powered entirely by renewable energy and we now have an action group, Repower Bendigo, specifically looking into achieving this.”

Ms Corr said Bendigo and the surrounding region used up to 300 megawatt hours a year in electricity and in the long term a large scale solar facility would be a good option.

“We have the technology in Australia to do this, we just want it implemented now,” she said.

“We want to educate the community about the viable technology that is being implemented across the world and build public support to have it here in Australia.”

The group is calling on Bendigo MP Steve Gibbons to support the formation of a new $10 billion clean energy fund, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and ensure that it is an effective vehicle for the construction of new big solar plants.

The fund was established by the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee in 2011; however some of the legislation is yet to be passed in parliament. The group believes this could deliver major solar projects not yet supported by the policy.

“We just want the money in this fund used for renewable energy and nothing else,” Ms Corr said.

She said the next step was to attend various community events and locations in the next two months to help raise awareness about their campaign.