Samoa completes 546kW solar plant, islands’ largest

Samoa has completed the installation of its largest solar project yet – a 546kW PV system that spans three separate sites on two of the independent state’s South Pacific islands, Savai’I and Upolu.

The project, developed by US company SunWize Technologies in conjunction with Samoan power utility Electric Power Corporation (EPC), was financed by the government of Japan through the Pacific Environment Community Fund.

It is SunWize’s third such project in the region, having successfully installed 1.8MW at the airport in nearby American Samoa in 2012 and a smaller system at the VA Hospital in Pago Pago.

In this latest project, two separate ground-mount PV installations are located in Samoa’s Salelologa community of Savai’I and the Tanugamanono community of Upolu, while a third site, Vaitele, Upolu, is home to an additional ground-mount installation and a solar canopy for equipment storage.

Using the American Samoa and Pago Pago projects as models, SunWize also implemented a control plan that will limit corrosion and extend the life of the system for 25 years.

“Our previous projects in American Samoa and Pago Pago required a solar electric system that could withstand 124-mile per hour typhoon force winds and corrosive ocean air,” said SunWize president and COO, David Kaltsas.

“We applied similar design and engineering principals to the ground mount systems and the solar canopy while also ensuring seamless alignment with the existing electric grid. We’re thrilled to be providing Independent Samoa with a robust source of clean energy.”

Rapa Young, EPC’s solar project team leader, said Samoa’s latest solar project moved the island group away from its dependence on expensive imported diesel fuel and closer to independence using clean, reliable energy.

Solar has become a more and more popular solution to the energy problems of island nations, as well as to the problem of surviving climate change – the subject of the 44th Pacific Islands forum in September last year.

Tokelau – a New Zealand protectorate in the South Pacific made up of three atolls whose highest point is only five meters above sea level – has three solar PV systems, one on each atoll, which provide 150 per cent of their current electricity demand.

The Kingdom of Tonga switched on its own maiden solar plant in July 2012 – another New Zealand-funded project.

Other 100 per cent renewable islands include Floreana in the Galapagos and El Hierro in the Canary Islands. And some with 100 per cent renewables goals include Cape Verde, Tuvalu, Gotland (Sweden), and all 15 of the Cook Islands.

In the US, Hawaii ranks second in the nation for installed solar watts per person, with more than 1,000 megawatts of renewable projects in service, under construction, or awaiting approval.