Cook Islands: Renewable Energy Sector Project

Energy / Renewable energy generation - solar

The Cook Islands is a Pacific island country divided into two island groups with an estimated total population of 18,600 people. The Northern group consists of seven low-lying and sparsely populated coral atolls, while the Southern group consists of eight fertile volcanic islands. About 92% of the population lives in the Southern group islands including Rarotonga, the main island. Economic development is hindered by the country's limited size, isolation and distance from markets, lack of natural resources, periodic devastation from natural disasters, and inadequate infrastructure.

The Cook Islands is heavily dependent on imported fuels. The total fuel import bill of the Cook Islands in 2012 was NZ$34.6 million or 25% of total imports and 9% of gross domestic product. Diesel-powered generators constitute about 99% of the total electricity generating capacity. The total installed power generation capacity in the Cook Islands is 11.75 megawatt (MW) with a distribution network comprising 80 kilometers (km) of 11 kilovolt (kV) underground cables and 200 km of 0.415 kV low voltage distribution lines. On the major islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki, nearly 99% of all households are grid connected, 8% have additional solar photovoltaic home systems (SHS), and 3% use small diesel generators. On the outer islands, about 60% of households are grid connected, and 43% have SHS. Current electricity demand in the Cook Islands is around 30.0 gigawatt-hour (GWh), which is forecast to modestly grow to 38.5 GWh by 2020. The Southern group is the dominant load center that accounts for 98% of current and future load demands.

Delivery of energy services is undertaken by state-owned utilities on Rarotonga and Aitutaki islands, and by island administration committees on the other outer islands, which are vertically-integrated electricity authority operating generation, transmission, distribution and retail of electricity. Assets for energy services are owned and overseen by the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC), the government's holding company grouping the state-owned enterprises.

2015: Core and non-core subprojects are now being referred to as Phase 1 and Phase 2 subprojects, respectively. Phase 1, aside from Mangaia, Mauke and Mitiaro, now also includes Atiu.

2016: The Phase 1 Turnkey Contract (covering Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro, and Atiu) was awarded in Aug 2016; the Aitutaki subproject tendering is on hold as of Dec 2016; and the Rarotonga subproject was requested by the government to be omitted from Phase 2.

2017: The Electricity Distribution System MV and LV Upgrade for Mauke and Mitiaro Islands was awarded in Mar 2017; and the civil works component for the Phase 1 subprojects, initially a separate package, is now being integrated to the Phase 1 Turnkey Contract.

This (civil works component of Phase 1 Turnkey Contract) has been approved and added as a variation to Phase 1 Turnkey Contract; The Rarotonga Battery Energy Storage System, which will be solely funded by a grant from the Global Environment Facility, was awarded in June 2017.

2018: The additional financing from GCF approved on 30 Oct 2017 is awaiting signing and effectiveness.

1. Solar PV power system development for four Phase 1 and for one Phase 2; installation of a battery energy storage system (BESS) with a preliminary capacity of 1.0 MW and 4.0 MWh; and additional installation of a single unit of 4.0 MW/2.0 MWh BESS, and two units of 1.0 MW/4.0 MWh (a total of 2.0 MW/8.0 MWh) BESS.

2. Institutional strengthening and project management support, including consulting services for O&M, project management unit and project owner's engineers.

Ongoing. Phase 1 (core subprojects) Turnkey Contract also included Atiu and was awarded in Aug 2016.

The initial BER for the Aitutaki subproject has been reviewed by ADB, and awaiting submission from COO of revised BER following ADB's comments; and

The Rarotonga subproject was requested by the government to be omitted from Phase 2 (noncore subprojects) approved by ADB, on a no objection basis, in Feb 2017.

The project has been classified as category B for environment following ADB's SPS. An EARF has been prepared for noncore subprojects, and an IEE has been prepared for core subprojects. The main environmental impacts will be during site preparation, which will include the cutting of about 141 trees and clearing of vegetative cover from the proposed sites and surrounding areas to prevent shading. There will be impacts from noise and dust due to transportation of plant and materials as well as operation of construction machinery. These impacts will be short-term (approximately one week for the smaller plant and up to a month for the larger plant). Operational impact includes maintenance of the plant and management of used batteries. It is proposed, as a special condition in the technical specifications, that handling and disposal of used batteries will be taken cared of by suppliers. The solar photovoltaic power system will not have any significant long-term adverse environmental impacts.

During implementation, MFEM, TAU, and REDD, with support from the environmental expert under the institutional strengthening and project management support component, will prepare IEE for noncore subprojects, and develop and update the IEE and the EMP based on the detailed designs for core and noncore subprojects. ADB will clear the updated documents. The EMPs from the updated assessments will be integrated into the bid and contract documents. During project implementation, the environment expert will enhance the capacity of MFEM, TAU, and REDD in safeguards implementation and monitoring.