Cyclone Ian brought down cable boxes and power lines. Pangai, Ha‘apai. January, 2014

Electric power has been restored to over 100 homes and shops in Ha‘apai's main town Pangai, Ha‘apai, following the destruction and damage to the power network by Cyclone Ian.

Tonga Power Ltd.'s CEO John van Brink said yesterday, that while they are able to restore power supply to a number of homes and buildings the end result is to ensure the supply will be safe and reliable into the future, which will require a significant investment.

He said they had estimated the cost of rebuilding the network, into one that is more resilient to cyclones, to be around $5 million pa’anga.

“We have pulled out all stops to get supply to as many customers as we are able to and we have around 20 staff working on the system tirelessly day and night to at least have some positive impact for our Ha‘apai customers,” he said.

Damage-assessment

Setitaia Chen the Planning and Design Manager said the initial damage assessment on January 13, indicated over 90-95% of the Ha’apai network was extensively damaged.

He said 95% of low voltage and high voltage lines suffered damages from the cyclone, 40% of the HV poles and 70% of the LV poles were either snapped or pulled to the ground, 65% of transformers were damaged and 95% of all service lines to people’s properties suffered extensive damage.

“Our team in Ha’apai has been working hard all week to rebuild the network and restore power supply in Pangai including Niu'ui Hospital, the Water Board, the Ministry of Agriculture, Tonga Communications Corporation, Digicel and to rebuild the LV and HV network towards the airport,” he said.

It remained difficult to transport materials to some inaccessible areas and this had delayed restoration of power to homes and businesses that remained standing.

It is estimated that restoring and rebuilding the electricity network will take a few months as further surveys and requests for power supply from households needed to be confirmed.

Tonga Power had 972 customers in Ha'apai of which 75% of homes were severely damaged or destroyed in the powerful Cyclone Ian on January 11, 2014.