"Sadly, I think you could only get the current government interested if it could be linked to a coal mining promotion..."
Perhaps there is a way to link in Coal. Should the project progress it would be a wonderful way to 'grandstand' the environmental impact of the various electricity generating technologies. I imagine a regularly updated graphic which charts the combined power consumption of the contestants against the greenhouse gasses emitted through electricity generation by goal, gas, solar, wind, etc. would make for sobering review.