COOK ISLANDS - UIRA NATURA KI TE TOKERAU
(SOLAR POWER FOR THE NORTH)

Technical advisory and support, design engineering and project implementation of a remote community power supply upgrade program for the Government of the Cook Islands and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

CONTEXT

In 2011, the Government of the Cook Islands committed to the goal of having 50% of the country’s electricity provided by renewable energy by 2015 and 100% by 2020; starting with the conversion of the power systems in the remote Northern Group of islands from diesel to solar PV. This ambitious plan recognised the need to partner with experienced external service providers who could provide the necessary technical skills while building the local capacity to manage the infrastructure being developed and lead the further work being planned in the main island, Rarotonga and the Southern Group of islands.

COMPLEXITY

The Northern Group project began in early 2012 and concluded in mid - 2015 with the installation of stand-alone renewable mini-grids in eight communities across six islands of the remote Northern Group of the country. These systems were specifically designed to be robust and suited to the harsh climate and extreme remoteness, and to offer value-for money in terms of both operational and capital expenditure. They are standardised, stand-alone solar photovoltaic power systems, with battery storage and backup diesel generators, designed to provide highly reliable 24 hour a day supply to domestic, community and commercial consumers.

Specific challenges that had to be addressed during the development, engineering design and delivery phases of the project included the extreme remoteness of the islands, a lack of docking facilities on many of them, seasonal cyclones, multi-party funding arrangements and requirements, and constrained technical capabilities on many of the islands. Ekistica spent significant time and effort engaging with central and island government authorities, communities and funding agencies to understand the full context of the project and the expectations and requirements of all stakeholders. This allowed us to then effectively translate these challenges into innovative solutions for the technical design, delivery and ongoing management and operation of the systems that reflected the needs and interests of all the stakeholders.

DELIVERY

Over the course of its continuing engagement in this project, Ekistica staff worked intensively with the Government of the Cooks Islands and its primary funding agencies, including NZ MFAT, to plan, develop and implement the systems, inclusive of an overall project feasibility study, technical designs, procurement strategy development, O&M structures, economic and financial assessments, independent construction supervision and the determination of appropriate governance and management structures for electricity supply across the entirety of the Outer Islands groups.  

As part of the post-commissioning review, Ekistica studied the energy consumption, PV generation performance, battery performance, and overall system performance of all sites in the past year via remote monitoring tools. This is an ongoing partnership that utilises our ability to translate, create and deliver.