Investors interest in renewable energy [1]
Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 10:45. Updated on Sunday, April 20, 2014 - 16:54.
Editor,
Bringing the Tonga energy roadmap to the table as a priority issue is a significant and positive step by government and thank you for the comprehensive coverage.
There are signs that we have learned some important lesson along the way and there are more to contend with as we consider the future.
It's doubtful that the Vava'u meeting would have taken place if we were still embroiled in controversy over who should own and operate the power infrastructure. Nothing sends donors and investors packing and heading for the door quicker than a toxic investment climate . We saw the reverse of that last week.
Our WTO membership didn't make it into your reports but how likely was it at that this may have been a factor in bringing some of the investor interests to the table? Let's hope that the lessons learned from the ownership controversy of the past and a change to the investor environment under WTO will see us rationally address any ownership challenges that the future will bring.
Intentionally or not, it looks from your report that the only party which was out of step at the conference was our own Tonga Power Limited. To look to donors to build larger tank farms for petrol storage to reduce costs and to install two new diesel generators in Vava'u that will meet consumption needs six years isn't exactly embracing the new future.
And the "first in the world" option on hydrogen is hardly a recommendation. The Third World is littered with experimental "first in the world' technology as investors abandon and walk away from unsuccessful experiments in needy and struggling economies. The ecological risk in a country such as ours which is struggling to have a decent environmental plan let alone implement one, is likely to be immense unless we're all convinced by successful applications elsewhere in the world. We are poor and needful but we can do without the guinea-pig status.
I am pleased to see that a scoping project on power loss is to be undertaken. I hope that this won't be limited to a technological solution only and that consumer consumption, behavior and needs be taken into consideration as well. The power loss which comes with centralized power generation and distribution isn't going to be solved by technology alone. Consumer behavior is a far more powerful contributor and therefore a useful tool to understand and manage so that it is at the forefront of a rational approach to our future needs.
Compared to the hydrogen option, the advances in home-based power generation is already proven and is more likely to offer a more equitable solution to our scattered population. Furthermore, the future for energy poor countries is for electricity and energy usage to be more personalized ie that households be encouraged to be responsible for their own use and also for the generation of power. The never ending complaints about power prices would have been more muted if consumers understood the balance between their own consumption and the generation and distribution costs. Conversely when households can figure out what's best for their own needs as well as the overall needs of the country, we will get arrive at rational consumption pattern at a price that everyone is prepared to pay.
Community role
Tonga's energy requirements into the future will be better planned if our community is able to understand their role in consumption and the options on generation. But it's unlikely to come anytime soon if this community engagement is left for the power suppliers to manage. The management model today is one where the consumers are treated only as buyers. The model for the future will require active consumer input and engagement and the absence of an active community advocate on the TPL Board is already an obvious anomaly. And as government is ultimately the owner of this business unit, it has a responsibility to improve this governance shortfall as a priority.
TPL needs to demonstrate that it not only does it understand that it has to turn its back on the technology that it is currently managing but that the way forward demands a model that it may have difficulty accommodating. So far, its mind-set at the Vava'u get-together is already a cause for concern.
I do hope that when the specs for the scoping exercise be done, that we factor in a community or consumer interest and that it will become a permanent contributor to shaping our future energy needs so that investors and donors alike be reassured and that everyone will go into this with all eyes open and minds fully engaged.
Sefita Hao'uli