Renewable energy

The event celebrated the promotion of renewable energy and sustainable transportation mobility. 

ACEO of renewable energy, Vainalepa Toiata Apelu Uili said they want to showcase other means of transportation such as “wheelbarrow, bikes and running.”

“We added a bio fuel in terms of taking off the kernel of the popo (coconut) to make it more fun and to tell people that bio fuel is another aspect that can add into ensuring that there is a use of renewable energy fir transportation.

But there is always room for improvements, says Minster of Electric Power Corporation, (EPC) Papaliitele Unasa Niko Lee Hang.

“A major hydro-power initiative by government remains in limbo. And if that particular project is up and running, we should have no problem in realizing our 2021 target,” said the Minister.

But he remains optimistic.

Meanwhile by April this year, data from the EPC shows that Samoa’s electricity output for that month was largely supplied by renewable energy sources.

This was announced after talks with a visiting senior French government official Sebastien Lecornu who said Wallis and Futuna wants to be at the forefront.

Mr Lecornu, who is the secretary of state for technological transition, says 90 percent of electricity is being produced with fossil fuels but that will drop to 50 percent by 2030.

He says a new economic model will be drawn up in broad discussions to provide a development partnership between the state and private sides.

Photo: PHOTO NZ

The Pacific Energy Update 2017 provides a comprehensive overview of ADB’s energy-focused work in the Pacific. The publication highlights the impacts of ADB-supported energy initiatives completed in 2016 and ongoing in 2017, while providing details of what ADB hopes to achieve in the energy sector in the future.

Work on the first hydro power station on Savai'i is now underway.

RNZ reports it is being built in the village of Vailoa Palauli.

General Manager for the Electric Power Corporation, Tologatā Tile, said this was only the beginning for Savaii.

The Pacific has some of the most expensive electricity prices in the world with much of its energy coming from diesel.

The IFC and the Australian-based company, Smart Commercial Solar, will launch its project by offering a free energy report to Pacific businesses calculating how much they can save if they switch to solar.

The IFC's spokesperson, Subrata Barman, said it's time for Pacific nations to look at moving away from traditional models of power supply.

The territory aims to produce its electricity without fossil fuels by 2030 with the exception of the nickel smelters which remain key consumers running their own power plants.

The new agency will take over from the current energy control committee and also assume its budget.

A member from the Loyalty Islands says the number of households still to be hooked up to the power grid has remained unchanged for a decade but the government says many of them now have electricity from autonomous set-ups.

Photo: AFP Vale's nickel plant in New Caledonia 

The Green Climate Fund, a United Nations fund to help developing countries adapt to climate change, has granted the Cook Islands US$12 million to expand the main island's energy grid.

The announcement is the first of a series of projects, which will be led by the Asia Development Bank, to expand renewable energy around the Pacific.

The Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister's office, Elizabeth Wright-Koteka, said the current grid cannot handle the current uptake of renewable energy, and the expansion will help solve that.

A energy specialist from the World Bank addressed the 25th Pacific Power Association Conference in Nuku'alofa.

“ADB is the largest investor in renewable energy in the Pacific, which is still heavily reliant on diesel for power generation,” said Michael Trainor, Energy Specialist in ADB’s Pacific Department. “We are working with governments and communities to improve the quantity and quality of energy services across the region by ramping up support for the transition to renewable energy.”