French energy giant Engie is calling for tenders for large-scale solar power station developments in Australia.

More than 800 people will lose their jobs in March when the company closes the Hazelwood power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.

The company is shifting away from brown coal-fired power generation and is inviting submissions for Australian solar development sites.

President of Latrobe Valley community group Voices of the Valley, Wendy Farmer, said the solar plant should be built in the region.

"They have worked in our backyard for a long time," she said.

"They have created pollution in our own backyards, they have been responsible for the Hazelwood mine fire that happened here so in a way, I think they do owe something to this community, they owe something to the workers.

"As we move along, energy will be decentralised; it would be really good to see the Latrobe Valley as one of those examples that moves from the old to the new."

The Clean Energy Council's large scale energy director Alicia Webb said the Latrobe Valley could be a suitable location for a solar plant.

"There [are] a lot of different factors that [go towards making] a decision about whether to put a large scale solar plant in," Ms Webb said.

"One of those is the solar resource but another is access to transmission lines [and] the Latrobe Valley has excellent access to transmission lines.

"You need the right space, the right type of land, you need to make sure the solar plant is away from endangered species and you need access to transmission lines.

"Those things are just as important as finding a sunny spot."

Latrobe Valley climate statistics

According to statistics from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), the average number of clear days in the Latrobe Valley per year is 31.

On average, 108 days per year experience rain of more than one millimetre in the valley.

In the New South Wales town of Nyngan, home to one of Australia's largest solar projects, the average number of clear days per year is 166.

There are about 43 days each year that experience one millimetre of rain or more there.

"Making the decision about where to put a solar farm is not just about 'sunnyness'," Ms Webb said.

"The Latrobe Valley might be a good spot to put the project [and] there are a lot of transferable skills in large scale transmission and generation.

"That could mean the Latrobe Valley has the right people at the right time to see this industry grow.

"But there's a lot of difference between solar power and coal power, so there'd be new skills to learn."