Tonga's first small wind turbine project is expected to start operation in mid-May at Nakolo village, in a Tonga Power Ltd project that aims to collect data and prove experience in wind generation.

The new technology which harnesses the energy of the wind by converting it into useable electricity could provide another source of clean and renewable energy for Tonga.

Setitaia Chen the Network Planning and Design Manager said Tonga Power Ltd. will start work on erecting the tower with the wind turbine and hook into its network after a groundbreaking ceremony on May 10. The project will be commissioned later next month.

In the meantime, the wind tower has arrived in Tonga from the UK while the 11kW capacity wind turbine bought from Glasgow's Gaia-Wind company is expected to arrive this week. Foundation work began this month and included the completion of road construction to the area.

Experience

Chen said the purpose of the small wind project is to gain experience with wind generation in Tonga, ensure that power can be generated constantly and that there is enough wind resource to make bigger project feasible. It will also build the capacity of Tonga Power on how to deal with wind generation.

"The project is more for the experience and is not specifically to reduce the diesel usage however the electricity will be fed back into the grid and although small every little bit of renewable energy generated helps to decrease the volumes of diesel consumed annually," he said.