Rural electrification initiatives in Fiji: a case study of solar home systems

Fiji is continuously striving towards providing its entire population with access to modern forms of energy, especially access to electricity. In 2007, 89% of the population had access to electricity, which comprising 82% of rural and 96% of urban dwellers. Although access to electricity in rural areas is significantly lower compared with urban areas but still represents a marked improvement from 69 % in 2003. The current (2014) estimates of overall national electrification rate are 92- 95% .The progress in rural electrification can mainly be attributed to a number of on-going initiatives including main grid extensions, solar home systems, diesel mini-grids and pico-hydro schemes but the solar home systems (SHS) program is the most popular and preferred option in remote rural and maritime regions. This paper describes

Feasibility study of a grid connected photovoltaic system for the central region of Fiji

Grid-connected photovoltaic systems are becoming attractive due to the decrease in cost of PV modules and through the possibilities of integration of renewable resources generated power into the traditional power systems. The heavy dependence on expensive imported diesel for power generation in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) make renewable energy based systems more viable. For large buildings where electricity demand is high and the lighting and other energy needs are just provided by grid delivered electricity, grid-tied building-integrated photovoltaics should be examined carefully to assess their technical and economic potential. This work describes the design and analysis of a grid-tied PV system for the C block of the Fiji National University(FNU) Samabula campus. A preliminary system design was done using the software PVSYST and then a techno-economic analysis was carried out using HOMER. This paper also outlines the many aspects of grid connected solar power system that makes it viable and economically attractive