19th April, 2018 The Outer Islands Renewable Energy Project (OIREP) of the Department of Energy under the Ministry of MEIDECC is now proceeding to implement its scope for Niuafo’ou Island’s Solar Home System.
A training was conducted on the 18th of April 2018 by the hardware supplier – Mr. Henry Cassin of Mercury Energy from New Zealand to facilitate the Energy Department staff to carry out the installation of the Battery Package in Niuafo’ou.
“The training was to familiarize the technicians of the Energy Department with the scope of work that they will embark on, in Niuafo’ou. The training walked us through on some of the tricks of the trade on installation” said Mr. Vahid Fifita, Energy Planner and Renewable Energy Expert.
“The training is a valuable capacity building excercise for MEIDECC and Tonga,” stated Mr. Johnny Lillis, the OIREP’s Project Manager.
The Niuafo’ou’s scope requires the replacement of 130 old “Solar Home System” batteries. This will help ensure continued access to electricity for the residents. These old batteries will be sent to New Zealand for recycling and help avoid any environmental incidents on the islandsuch as acid or lead leaking into the soil.
Houses will be installed and supplied with new wiring for the residents to help improve household electrical safety and the general installation standard.
OIREP will supply and install a new stand-alone solar system on the Niuafo’ou Health Centre that will provide 24/7 electricity for all the Health Centre’s needs. This will help to improve the services that the Health Centre can offer while also reducing the operating costsby replacing expensive diesel with solar and batteries.
The replacement of old Solar Home System of Niuafo’ou is expected to commence in May 2018 which will benefit the communities of Niuafo’ou and the next generations. This would also help Government of Tonga to meet their TERM targets of 50% renewable energy power generation, 100% accessibility to electricity and to reduce the cost of electricity for all residents by 2020.
ENDS
Issued by the: Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change & Communications.