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Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP) - Nauru Interventions

Background

Consisting of a single, isolated raised coral equatorial island, Nauru has a total land area is 21 km2 with an EEZ of 320,000 km2. There are two separate plateau areas: “bottomside” that is a few metres above sea level and “topside” that is typically 30 metres higher. The 2002 census shows a population of 10,065 persons. The climate is equatorial marine in nature. There are no cyclones though rainfall is cyclic and periodic droughts are a serious problem with one year having a recorded rainfall of only 280 mm.

The Baselines

Power generation and transportation are 100% dependent on fossil fuels with the phosphate mining as the major consumer. Fossil fuel consumption has declined corresponding with the decline in the mining industry but has slowly risen corresponding with the current secondary mining operations. In 2003, fuel imports was estimated at 14 million litres.

In 2000-2001, domestic use of electricity amounted to 18.4 GW. With 1677 households enumerated in 2002, electricity use per household is one of the highest in the Pacific with an average use of 915 kWh/month.

No significant commercial development of renewable energy has been recorded. Only solar water heating has been used to any extent and most of the systems failed after a few years of use and were not repaired.

The Japanese did a technical trial of OTEC in 1981 with an experimental plant on the west coast of Nauru that produced a net power of 15kW. The trials were mainly as engineering trials to gain experience with the technology and have not resulted in further development in Nauru.

Nauru has a very good solar resource. Measurements show an average of about 5.8 kWhr/m2/day with only small seasonal variation.

The wind resource is poorly known and a resource assessment for topside would be worth carrying out to determine the appropriateness of further development.

Nauru is presently developing a national energy policy in which it hopes to increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix by 10% by year 2020.

The addition of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures has an estimated potential of reduction of 35% of Nauru’s 2013 GHG predicted values.

The PIGGAREP Support

The PIGGAREP activities identified for Nauru is based largely on two key on-going projects: (1) the EU-funded Support to the Energy Sector in five ACP Pacific Islands (REP-5), and (2) the European Union’s 10th EDF Renewable Energy Programme.

The REP- 5 in Nauru

The overall objective of the REP-5 programme is poverty alleviation by improving the access to electricity and thus the living conditions of the Pacific Island States. The specific objectives for the programme are to improve the overall efficiency of the energy sector and, where justified, increase production through renewable energy sources to allow a better allocation of limited resources for sustainable development, reducing local pollution and environmental risks associated with current energy generation practices.

The REP-5 component for Nauru is approximately A$2.2 million and is currently under implementation while the EDF 10 is for 2.3 million Euro and whose financing agreement has been signed in October 2007. A consultant was in Nauru in February 2008 to conduct the projects identification study.

The REP-5, which will be completed by the end of 2009, involves renewable energy and energy efficiency activities. REP-5 has recruited an Energy Officer (Ms Sylvie Dageago) and there is provision for an Assistant EO to work on REP-5 up to the end of 2009. REP-5 involves a tariff review study, estimated at €60,000 planned for the third quarter of 2008 and a 40 kWp grid connected PV system to be installed at Nauru College, estimated at €500,000.

Nauru signed the financing agreement for the EDF 10 in October 2007 and is expecting a programme worth €2.3 million. A consultant was in Nauru in February 2008 to conduct the projects identification study.

PIGGAREP will assist Nauru by expanding the Nauru RE market beyond those provided through the REP-5 and EDF 10. These will include four key activities:

• a study of the potential productive uses of solar energy for desalination, laundry and catering purposes at the hospital and in fisheries
• wind power feasibility study at the highest areas of Nauru (the topside)
• strengthening the capacity of the NUA

The incremental activities that are planned for Nauru in 2008 are based on expanding the Nauru RE market beyond those provided through the REP-5. These will include three key activities:

• a study of the potential productive uses of solar energy for desalination, laundry and catering purposes at the hospital and in fisheries
• wind power feasibility study at the highest areas of Nauru (the topside)
• strengthening the capacity of the NUA

A study of the potential productive uses of solar energy for desalination, laundry and catering purposes at the hospital and in fisheries

As an equatorial country, Nauru has a very good solar resource. Measurements show an average of about 5.8 kWhr/m2/day with only small seasonal variation. Despite this, solar technologies are not widely used in Nauru. The temperature is always around 30o C and there is limited use of solar water heaters in the domestic sector. However, solar water heating could be introduced at the national hospital for laundry and catering purposes. At the same time, it could be used for cleaning purposes at the Fisheries sector.

The climate is equatorial marine in nature. There are no cyclones though rainfall is cyclic and periodic droughts are a serious problem with one year having a recorded rainfall of only 280 mm. Producing portable water in a cost effective manner is a priority to Nauru and therefore solar desalination is an opportunity to be investigated in Nauru.
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This study will extend REP-5’s focus on grid-connected solar in a school to an investigation of other productive applications of solar energy, particularly in the water, health and the fisheries sectors. This activity is timed to take place after the adoption of the tariff study under REP-5 (in mid-2009) since the power tariff will have a significant impact on the commercial viability of the solar energy applications.

The study will generally be to investigate the technical and economic viability of introducing solar for solar desalination, water heating for laundry and catering purposes at the hospital and for cleaning purposes at the fishery sector.

Wind power feasibility study at the highest areas of Nauru (the topside)

In 2006, WINERGY NC of New Caledonia conducted a wind mapping exercise in Nauru in an effort to quantify the available wind potential. The wind atlas that was produced showed that Nauru has a good wind regime. The study identified that the best sites for wind projects are in the Northeast where a wind project at IJUW with wind speed of up to 6 m/s at 50m which can possibly provide around 25% of the domestic demand for electricity on the island. The study also found that moderate wind speed of 5.5 m/s at 50m could be found along the eastern coast.

To further advance the wind power development in Nauru, a feasibility study of a wind power project at IJUW is to be undertaken.

Strengthening the capacity of the NUA

The strengthening of the capacity at NUA will involve three activities. These include the following:

• participation at the SIS Capacity Building Workshop on Renewable Energy Technology Applications: 21-25 April 2008
• two local training workshops on renewable energy
• extension of the employment of the Energy Officer at NUA.

SIS Capacity Building Workshop

At the Sixteenth Small Island States Leaders’ Summit held at Nuku’alofa, Tonga on 15 October 2007, the Summit noted that non-fossil solutions are viable and critical, particularly for the SIS like Nauru, which face particular hardships as a result of climate change and sea level rise. The objectives of the workshop are:

• to strengthen the capacity in the SIS to Productively Utilize Renewable Energy (PURE) services from standalone and grid-connected PV, wind and biofuel through the sharing of field experiences, and
• to provide an opportunity for the SIS to observe and to learn from the biofuel and wind power developments in Vanuatu as well as in Australia and other PICs.

The workshop will be held at the Melanesian Hotel at Port Vila, Vanuatu on 21st – 25th April 2008.

Local training workshops

In October 2008, the Pacific Power Association and the e8 will be jointly conducting a training-of-trainers workshop on renewable energy. This intensive two weeks training workshop will cover both the technical and financial aspects of renewable energy. The two participants from Nauru will then replicate the training workshop in Nauru in 2009. This PIGGAREP-supported workshop will also aim at training technicians to maintain RONTEL’s AusAID- funded mobile phone and wireless Internet connection programme powered from wind and solar PV. This will be followed by a training workshop on grid-connected solar PV in preparation for the maintenance of the REP-5 project at Nauru College and future similar installations planned in the EDF 10 programme.

Extension of the employment of the Energy Officer

Under the REP-5, an Energy Officer was recruited in November 2007 to work specially on coordinating the REP-5 activities. The position is based at NUA and is the first position at NUA to focus specifically on renewable energy and energy efficiency. The position is to be funded by REP-5 until 31st Dec 2009. To ensure continuity, PIGGAREP will extend the services of the EO beyond December 2009