The Bourke Council has approved a 2,000 square metre solar farm to power local NBN services.

The council has approved NBN Co’s proposal to power a satellite ground station with a large solar facility right next door.

The community in the rural New South Wales town will eventually be upgraded to fibre optic cable internet, but a temporary satellite station solution has been set up in the meantime to give residents of the most remote areas access to broadband.

Bourke’s Mayor Andrew Lewis says the solar farm will help the national broadband provider offset the power consumption of its satellite facility.

“What they'll be able to do is be able to run their satellite system off it, plus get extra power, just saving up power and they've got a lot of area there and it's a good area to make solar energy.”

The rural NSW town recently welcomed the completion of the satellite ground station, one of ten to be constructed nationwide.

It will remain dormant until sometime in 2015, when NBN Co’s two dedicated satellites are launched to much needed internet upgrades in the bush.

Construction on the solar farm will begin as soon as deals are singed, after the most recent Council meeting unanimously voted in favour of the 18 mounted solar panels providing 99.75 kilowatts from an area of less than half an acre.