Page 35 - IB December 2022

Energy

OVALAU AGRO PV PROJECT A

MODEL FOR FIJI

DEVELOPER EYES SIDS

By Dionisia Tabureguci getting a lot of benefits and
so there is less motivation to
Four more Agrophotovoltaic (APV) projects are planned for increase their tariff in Ovalau.
Fiji, according to the developer of the Ovalau APV, which is I think it’s a win/win situation
currently in the final stages of negotiations, with construction for EFL, the community and
planned for early next year. the Fiji Government.
“We are planning to do four more projects nationwide in “We are at the final stage
Fiji after this (Ovalau) project. So, two projects in Viti Levu, of things and final agreement
one in Vanua Levu and another additional one in Ovalau to will be signed by February next
take its renewable energy to almost 100%,” said Yoon Sung, year. Once this is done, we can
CEO of Korean social venture company Envelops, the devel- then start the construction of
oper of the Fiji-Korea Agrophotovoltaic project in Ovalau. the solar panels in probably
The Ovalau project’s US$10 million cost will be funded in March next year. Our target
part by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through the Fiji De- Yoon Sung, CEO of Korean social commercial operation date for
venture company, Envelops.
velopment Bank, the Korea International Cooperation Agency the power plant is December
(KOICA) and, through Envelops’ equity input from private next year. So, around this time next year, you can see this
investors in Korea. power plant running,” said Yoon.
APV differs from conventional solar farms in that it maxi- Envelops, which focuses investments on renewable energy
mises the use of land by supporting farming activities beneath projects in developing countries, also plans to replicate the
solar panels. Ovalau APV project in other Small Island Developing States
“If you put a normal solar power on agricultural land, there (SIDS) in the Pacific and elsewhere.
will be misuse of the land for agricultural purpose so food “The reason why we are focusing on developing countries
security on Ovalau will go down because they are losing their is because they are the most vulnerable countries in terms of
arable land. The only solution is to have some land sharing climate change impact,” said Yoon.
concept, of agriculture and solar power together which is a “When we’re into the second or third year of this first proj-
very good system,” said Yoon. ect, we will invite people from small island developing states
“The agricultural program has already started by KOICA, ini- to come and see this project. This one for GCF is considered
tially starting with tomato, bell pepper, lettuce and dalo, but a pilot because it is the first of its kind here in the Pacific. So
our agricultural expert teams will do more detailed study and we have to show them that we can expand this photovoltaic
planning to choose the right crop underneath this solar panel. system with the agricultural system together, throughout the
It’s very important to show the successful case of the agricul- small island countries, to help them become energy depen-
tural system under the agrovphotovoltaic system so that we dent and food security dependent, which is very important in
can create the climate resilient environment for the crops, terms of this climate change impact.”
especially considering this is a high heat area and prone to Bureta Community Development Committee representative,
drought and a lot of the climate change events. We want to Sereana Qoro, said women and young people will be involved
make this system climate smart.” in the agricultural component and in doing so, learn climate
Electricity generation on Ovalau is currently 100% diesel smart farming techniques.
dependent. This will drop to 50% once the APV project goes “Community members will enjoy practical training by ex-
on grid, tentatively by December next year. perts from Korea. The project comes with a research station
“We’ve been developing this project since 2018 and it’s and market access facilities for the targeted produce, mainly
now in the final stage of development, meaning we are almost vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, capsicum, dalo etc,”
closing the climate financing, the loan from GCF and equity she said.
investment from our private investors in Korea,” said Yoon. A relatively new method of integrating agriculture and solar
“We are also waiting for the final approval of our agreement power production, commercial agrovoltaic projects have
with Energy Fiji Ltd. Our negotiation is at the final stage with become increasingly popular in countries like Korea, Japan,
EFL on the tariff. The cost to EFL from the diesel generation France and Germany, where pilot studies have proved the
is really, really high and our tariff that we will be supplying to technology’s cost-effectiveness and viability.
the grid is a lot lower. In Ovalau annually, electricity con-
sumption is around 10,000mwh and our project can be placed editor@islandsbusiness.com
around 5,000mwh, which is 50%. So from EFL side, they are

Islands Business, December 2022 35