Cade Lucas
Given it’s renowned for having a lack of trees and greenery, the recent crowning of Tarneit as Australia’s ‘greenest suburb’ likely caught a few people by surprise.
But those in doubt should simply look at the rooftops next time they’re in the area.
Tarneit, together with neighbouring Truganina which shares the 3029 postcode, have claimed the title as the country’s greenest suburbs due to their take-up of rooftop solar.
Renewable energy advocate and provider, Solar Run, conducted an analysis of data from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) to calculate the total number of solar installations in every Australian suburb between January 2020 and December 2023.
And with a total of 2177 installations over the near four year period, Tarneit came out on top.
When asked why this was the case, Solar Run chief executive Anothony Kurta provided a pretty straight forward answer.
“It’s just the huge volume of homes that are getting built in this area,” said Mr Kurta of the two suburbs in Wyndham’s north which have helped make the municipality the fastest growing in the nation.
He said people moving into newly built homes were often looking for ways to cut costs and save money, making rooftop solar especially attractive.
“Solar can reduce their electricity bills by up to 80 per cent,” he said.
“Instead of paying $300 for electricity, that’s one less thing you need to spend on when you’re moving into a new home.”
Cheaper power was part of the reason why Sameer Sharma installed rooftop solar when he and his family moved into their Truganina home three years ago.
He said inflation and the rise in the cost of living since, made him thankful he did so.
“It’s good to save money on electricity when daily expenditures have gone up in regards to groceries and day to day living.”
Mr Shameer said climate change and the amount of other homes with rooftop solar in the area had also influenced his decision.
Tarneit finished ahead of Box Hill in NSW which had 2152 installations, with the Queensland cities of Bundaberg, Caloundra and Mackay rounding out the top five.
Werribee was the other Wyndham suburb in the top 10, with 1363 solar installations.
