ADB has approved a $2.8 million financing to expand Samoa’s Upolu Solar Farm with high-efficiency panels
The expansion will produce 9.6 GWh of clean energy annually and cut 1,944 tons of CO2
It supports Samoa’s renewable energy targets while addressing recent power shortages and climate mitigation goals
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.8 million loan to Sun Pacific Energy Ltd (SPEL) to expand Samoa’s first independent power producer (IPP) project. The project aims to boost renewable energy generation as Samoa faces growing electricity demand and power reliability challenges.
The funds will help upgrade the Upolu Solar Farm to 6.0 MW AC, from 4.2 MW presently, by replacing all older, less-efficient ReneSola 305 W panels installed in 2014 and a portion of Yingli 350W panels installed in 2018 with 625 W high-efficiency bifacial modules from JA Solar.
Financing will be directed towards upgrading and expanding the project at the Faleolo International Airport, which was originally developed in 2017 with the bank’s support. With the expansion, the project is expected to generate close to 9.6 GWh of clean energy annually, up from 6.2 GWh/year. It is also likely to reduce an additional 1,944 tons of carbon emissions per year.
SPEL, the 1st independent power producer (IPP) in Samoa, has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with state utility Electric Power Corporation for the Upolu project.
“ADB enabled us to create a financing package that is not available in the market due to limited financial players,” said SPEL CEO Jamie Harrison. “This project is deeply rooted in our mission of providing accessible, clean energy to the people of Samoa.”
The initiative comes as Samoa works to address power shortages that led to a 30-day state of emergency in March following outages caused by generator failures, storm damage, and rising electricity consumption. It also supports national goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2030 and sourcing at least 70% of electricity from renewables by 2031.
This SPEL project is also backed by a $225,000 technical assistance from the Australian Climate Finance Partnership Fund (ACFP), which is a concessional funding facility administered by ADB to back climate-related private sector projects in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
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