Griffith was crowned the winner of an Earth Hour 2013 competition for having the most pledges of any Australian town with a population of 20,001 to 60,000. 

The prize for winning the competition was a fully installed 1.5kW solar power system which Mayor John Dal Broi awarded to the community radio station.

“The awarding of the solar system to community radio will ensure that the station can afford to continue delivering their valuable service to the community,” Cr Dal Broi said.

“I would like to congratulate the community for supporting Earth Hour 2013 and vowing to switch to renewable energy.”

The radio station constantly runs four computers and equipment for transmitting the service, meaning the stations’ power bills ran into the tens of thousands. 

Community radio station 2MIAfm president Dolf Murwood said the solar panels would reduce the biggest cost associated with the station. 

“We have a power bill of around $20,000 every year, so hopefully the solar panels will go some way to reducing that,” Mr Murwood said.

“It would be fantastic if I could spend a little less time worrying about finding money to pay the power bill and a bit more time finding administrative staff to help run the station.

“I would like to thank everyone in Griffith for pledging their support to Earth Hour and to the mayor for choosing community radio as the recipient of the prize.”