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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Peter Hannam

‘People would abuse me’: how a ‘climate capitalist’ learned to sell solar in Victoria’s coal country

Andy McCarthy Coal Victoria
Andy McCarthy next to a roof covered in solar panels
The CEO of Gippsland Solar, Andy McCarthy says that in hindsight, the Latrobe Valley may have been ‘the worst place in Australia to start a renewable energy company’. Photograph: Supplied

When Andy McCarthy moved to the heart of Victoria’s coal country in 2010 to start selling rooftop solar panels he was greeted with “open ridicule”.

But as his Gippsland Solar firm began “having a few wins and making a bit of a splash”, the response on the streets in the Latrobe Valley towns of Morwell and Traralgon, and especially the local footy field, took on a more menacing tone.

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