03rd August 2016 The 25th Annual Pacific Power Association (PPA) Conference and Trade Exhibition, hosted by Tonga Power Limited (TPL) for the first time was officially opened yesterday by HRH Crown Prince Tupouto’a at Queen Salote Memorial Hall.
More than 200 representatives from power utilities and organizations across the region attended the conference under the theme ‘Integrating Intermittent Renewable Energy with Conventional Generation’.
Crown Prince Tupouto’a in his opening remarks said the theme of the conference clearly established the challenges faced by the region in trying to incorporate renewable energy with conventional generation.
“Renewable energy, more certainly is a big part of solving the dilemma of high reliance of fuels in the Pacific and small island development states. And of course the effects it has on economic development. I’m very happy that PPA has decided to focus quite specifically on the integrating to renewable energy,” he said.
“This year’s theme captures the Government of Tonga’s ambition to transform Tonga’s electricity industry from the one that’s heavily relying on important fuels to one that is sustainable, friendly, and align with the vision of the Tonga Energy Road Map.
“Tonga continues to focus on improving its energy sector, through access to electricity, in targets of 50% renewable electricity generation and improvements and efficiency of supply by 2020.”
He also stressed the importance of addressing the development of pacific power and sustainable economy with renewable energy to serve as a lead path to solve the effects of fossil fuel.
Tonga Power Limited’s CEO Mr. Robert Mathews told that;
“The challenge of integrating renewable energy with conventional generation is the theme for this conference. What this means for Tonga, the Tonga Power is displacing diesel generation which accounts for 90 percent of all electricity generated in Tonga.”
“Here at Tonga Power, we have found that we need to change our philosophy for distributing electricity from circle radio theatre to ring theatre in the main island of Tongatapu. Automatic control of diesel generation is further improvement our current and solar wind farm,” he said.
He noted the assistance of development partners in TPL’s endeavor to reach the government’s Renewable Energy goal in 2020.
“In Tonga, there is 2.4 MW of centralized solar PV existing on the four power grids that TPL manages and we are moving to add a further 2MW of solar PV in the coming months. In addition, the Government of Japan together with the New Zealand Government has been working towards the development of up to 4MW of wind generation.”
“The continued assistance from development partners with private sector investment will be crucial if Tonga Power is to release the government’s objectives of reaching 50% renewable energy by 2020.”
Matthews stated that each country has a unique set of circumstance, but it was important to work together and find synergies to help with the betterment of the region.
Chairman of PPA Mr. Kione J Isechal welcomed the PPA member utilities and guests and reassured the gathering that since 1992, PPA has committed to improving the quality of power in the region.
Isechal hoped the conference would provide an opportunity for participants to share and exchange ideas in order to help develop solutions using innovative technology for the challenges of renewable energy integration.
PPA is an inter-governmental agency and member of the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific (CROP) committed to promote the direct cooperation of the Pacific island power utilities in technical training, exchange of information, sharing of senior management and engineering expertise and other activities of benefit to the members.
ENDS
Issued by the: Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications