It doesn’t seem to me to have been too long ago, but perhaps more than three years ago, that one correspondent wrote to me saying in his home village there was no lighting, including solar power and all used kerosene lamps in their homes and kerosene for cooking.
In another story shared with me, a rural medical clinic also had no lighting and doctors carried out childbirth deliveries with the help of hand torches or with kerosene lamps.
I read in 2016, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved financing to support the SIG and Solomon Power was to convert electricity networks in five provinces almost entirely to solar power.
The Solar Power Development Project was intended to construct grid-connected solar plants in five provinces: Kirakira, Lata, Malu’u, Munda, and Tulagi.
The project was to be funded by a $2.24 million grant from ADB, $6.2 million grant from the Strategic Climate Fund, and $6.76 million from the government.
The project was intended to be the first solar power project in Solomon Islands to install battery storage, which would allow electricity to be stored from the sun during the day to power the provincial towns at night. The project would reduce the need for costly shipments of diesel to the provincial centers.
“Reliance on diesel generation has resulted in a high cost of electricity in the Solomon Islands, which has constrained economic growth, particularly in the commercial and tourism sectors,”
“The 2016 project would help Solomon Islands reduce the cost of generating power, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions which lead to global warming.”
The project design would see the installation of about 2 megawatt of solar power generation capacity, which would consist of ground mounted rows of solar panels near the townships of Kirakira, Lata, Malu’u, Munda, and Tulagi.
In 2016, the project was seen as part of a broader program by Solomon Power to expand electricity access to rural communities through renewable energy-based grids.
In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India met the leaders of the Pacific Island countries on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session when he demonstrated India's commitment to advancing their development priorities, including delivering renewable energy by way of solar lighting.
I never discovered whether that promise from Prime Minister Modi came about and, if it did, how did the Solomon Islands benefit from solar power equipment and technical assistance to light homes?
Now in 2022, I would hate to think that the rural health clinic I wrote about is still without any lighting, other than still having to use kerosene lamps during birth deliveries, or my correspondent is still without any lights in his home village.
Perhaps Solar Power, the SIG or the ADB might be able to comment and reassure me of how solar power developments have developed at home since 2016.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
