Tonga signs more solar/storage projects as it aims for 70 pct renewables

A joint venture consisting of New Zealand renewable energy company Infratec and sister-company NETcon has signed another contract to deliver solar and storage projects in the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga.

Infratec and NETcon have signed a contract to deliver on-grid solar power plants and battery storage systems on the Tongan islands of ‘Eua and Vava’u.

The $NZ7.5 million ($A7.14 million) contract follows on the heels of a similar recently announced $NZ15 million ($A14.3 million) contract to deliver solar power and battery storage plants and distribution systems on five of the kingdom’s outer islands – O’ua, Tungua, Kotu, Mo’unga’one, and Niuafo’ou.

Both awarded contracts are part of the Government of Tonga’s Renewable Energy Project which intends to build up the island nation’s renewable energy capacity to 50% by the end of 2020, and up to 70% by 2030.

“On ‘Eua and Vava’u, we will be designing and delivering the infrastructure to more than double the solar power currently on the islands,” said Infratec Chief Executive Greg Visser. “For ‘Eua, this translates to 28% of their energy needs, and 7% for Vava’u.

The technical specifics of both contracted projects have not been revealed, but Infratec expects that the new projects for the islands of ‘Eua and Vava’u will need to deliver power both day and night, and for the first time help the islands run off-diesel for periods of time.

The projects will subsequently help reduce Tonga’s vulnerability to increasing oil prices while also reduce its carbon emissions, improve its resilience to climate change, and provide secure, sustainable, and clean electricity.

“The decreased energy costs from these projects will also have a very direct impact on people’s lives — reducing the cost of doing business, creating new business opportunities, and freeing up household income for other needs such as education,” explained Visser.

“We will be delivering the project in a way that brings as much benefit as possible to local people and communities — including employing local community liaison staff, providing employment and training for local people in the construction phase (with a target of at least 20% women), training Tonga Power Limited staff for ongoing maintenance, and delivering an HIV/Aids prevention programme on each of the islands.”

Meanwhile, the solar and storage projects on Tonga’s outer islands will provide clean electricity to the 1,000 people living on those isolated islands.

“Because of their remoteness, many of the homes on the islands have historically had little to no electricity,” Visser explained in late-March of the inhabitants of O’ua, Tungua, Kotu, Mo’unga’one, and Niuafo’ou. “These are significant infrastructure projects for Tonga and the Pacific in general. What we are talking about is bringing off-grid communities up to the same level of electricity access as the mainland.”

“For the first time, the islands’ residents will have access to electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In New Zealand the ability to switch on the lights, or refrigerate our food is often taken for granted, but in off-grid communities, these actions represent a step change.

Delivered well, these projects can bring lasting impacts for the communities, which we’ve seen first-hand from our similar work in the Cook Islands, Indonesia, and Afghanistan.”

Initial development of all projects is expected to begin straight away, but with COVID-19 restrictions in place, this will look a little different. Infratec is looking to commence all initial site works, such as site clearing and survey, by using local partners, while Infratec engineers will kick off the design work remotely from New Zealand. Completion for the ‘Eua and Vava’u projects are expected for mid-2021, assuming no further COVID-19 restrictions.