We may have some of the most Instagrammable cafes, the best coffee, and the best beaches in the world but when it comes to green spaces, it looks like Sydney is lagging behind its counterparts. A new study has ranked suburbs around Australia on the basis of solar power installation rates and only two suburbs in Sydney have made it to the top 10. Queensland dominated the list with 5 out of 10 suburbs located in the Sunshine State. The first spot was taken out by Melbourne’s Tarneit.
To determine how much clean energy is being used across Australian suburbs, solar energy provider Solar Run looked at public data from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) to collate the number of solar installations across suburbs from January 2020 to December 2023. Although Sydney only appears in the top 10 twice, the suburb of Box Hill made it to number 2 in 2023 and also beat Tarneit in 2022 with a total of 1957 installations. Sydney’s Kellyville also made the list with a total of 1,442 installations.
Top 10 greenest suburbs in Australia by solar power installation
- Tarneit — Victoria
- Box Hill — NSW
- Bundaberg — Queensland
- Caloundra — Queensland
- Mackay — Queensland
- Roxburgh Park — Victoria
- Maryborough — Queensland
- Kellyville — NSW
- Toowoomba — Queensland
- Werribee — Victoria
Among the years analysed, 2021 had the highest number of solar power installations with a drop in 2022 and an increase in 2023. Find the full breakdown and more info on the ranking here.