SMA Solar launches 500kW solar-diesel hybrid system in Tonga

Dec 17, 2013 - German photovoltaics (PV) company SMA Solar AG (ETR:S92) said on Monday it has installed a PV-diesel hybrid power system with a capacity of 500 kW on the island of Vava’u, part of the Tonga archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean.

The project was developed by Abu Dhabi's renewables company Masdar and was financed through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

The hybrid system consists of ground-mounted PV panels and a battery storage technology integrated with the diesel power plant on the island. The PV-diesel system has annual electricity output of 873 MWh and is expected to save some 225,000 litres of diesel per year.

The Kingdom of Tonga wants to reduce its dependency on fossil-fuels and aims at covering 50% of its electricity consumption through renewable sources by 2020. The Tonga archipelago consists of 176 islands.

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