Central ward candidate and former Dubbo mayor Greg Matthews issued a statement saying he was excited at news the NSW Government was fully funding  a solar farm in Bathurst big enough to power 46,000 homes.

“If I am elected Mayor it will be the first thing I do. That is get in touch with the NSW Government and put a strong case for Dubbo to have a solar farm.  I will also enquire about how Wellington can benefit as well.”

He questioned whether Bathurst’s foggy winter weather suited a solar farm and noted opposition to the facility’s location on prime agricultural land.

Dubbo had “bright sunny days in winter mainly and summer” and had enough land near the sewerage works for a solar site that would avoid “upsetting nearby residents”, he said.

A DRC-managed solar farm would allow “power prices to come down significantly as we will not be tied to a large electricity provider” which would not care about families, pensioners and retired residents.

A Dubbo solar farm “is a must and it is a priority as far as I am concerned”, he said.

Wellington ward candidate Jacob Perry said in a statement he slammed “the dithering and chatter of support among candidates seeking election to DRC as a cheap ploy just to win votes”.

He said “some of these individuals spruiking up a solar Wellington and solar Dubbo” were part of a council which did not fight the O’Farrell Coalition Government, which had sold the people of the area short over the failed Cobbora Coal Mine.

“To ensure a sustainable power supply into the future that would provide thousands of jobs in the long term, then activating what would have been the Southern Hemisphere’s second largest coal mine in our LGA was a no-brainer.” He called on “those trotting out good-sounding ideas surrounding all but approved solar projects to come clean and stop dudding the people of Wellington Ward and the rest of the LGA”.