New Zealand JV to bring solar, storage to islands of Tonga

New Zealand’s renewable energy developer Infratec and its partner NETcon, a power transmission company, have secured a contract to deliver on-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage facilities to the ‘Eua and Vava’u islands in the Kingdom of Tonga, Oceania.

Under the NZD-7.5-million (USD 4.5m/EUR 4.1m) contract, the joint-venture (JV) partners will design, procure and build the systems, enabling the islands to more than double their current solar power capacity, Infratec has said.

Their undertaking is part of the Tonga Renewable Energy Project, which seeks the help the island nation achieve its 70% renewables target by 2030.

The new assignment follows a recent announcement that the partners have won a joint bid to build solar arrays, battery storage and distribution networks on outer islands of Tonga. That project, worth NZD 15 million, will benefit a population of 1,000 living on the isolated island of O’ua, Tungua, Kotu, and Mo’unga’one in Tonga’s Ha’apai group and Niuafo’ou in the northernmost Niua group.

Infratec then said that, due to COVID-19 restrictions in place, it would use local resources for on-site works, while its engineers would develop the design remotely from the New Zealand base.

Both projects are funded by the Green Climate Fund, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the government of Tonga.

(NZD 1.0 = USD 0.598/EUR 0.552)

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