A model renewable power system for Ha’apai is being developed by a post-graduate student at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

During Cyclone Ian last year, Ha’apai’s two 186 kilowatt diesel generators were destroyed. Tonga has since received assistance from Canterbury University, an institution renowned for its engineering school.

A thesis is being prepared by a post-graduate electrical and computer engineering student, Hantt Cao. According to Canterbury University, the design is developing a model to determine what a hybrid power system made up of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar would look like and how it would perform.

Supervising lecturer, Dr Andrew Lapthorn stated “The outcome from this research will be used by Tonga Power, Tonga’s state owned electricity company, to determine whether they proceed with a renewable energy option for Ha’apai. As part of Tonga’s energy roadmap the government is committed to converting a portion of Tonga’s electricity generation to renewable energy sources.

“A lot of renewable energy sources are intermittent and their performance hard to predict due to the weather. A new renewable power system will need to be quite smart in order to maintain a quality power supply to the island. As well as the technical design, Cao is also looking at the economic side of things to determine the optimal combination of generating resources and how that would compare with the diesel system that was in place before the cyclone.

“They already have some solar generation on Tongatapu and Vava’u. However, as Tonga is quite a poor nation and they have limited resources for such projects and rely heavily on external aid from other countries such as New Zealand and China, Cao’s thesis could be used as a basis for some funding application to implement the power system.”