Outer Island Renewable Energy Project - Additional Financing (ADB-43452-024)

Countries
  • Tonga
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 14, 2016
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Tonga Power Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 5.60 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Jun 26, 2020

Disclosed by Bank Dec 14, 2016

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

To expand the scale of the current project and deliver greater benefits by reducing power distribution losses, the government has asked ADB for a loan and a grant of $2.5 million each from ADB's Special Funds resources to expand the on-going grid rehabilitation works from 80% to 100% and from 20% to 50% of existing grid networks on Eua and Vava'u.

The overall project including additional financing will construct and install solar power systems with a preliminary capacity of 1.32 megawatt-peak (MWp) on 9 outer islands in Tonga. This capacity will be provided as follows: (i) a total of 0.75 MWp on ‘Eua and Ha’apai including a repair program on Vava’u; (ii) a total of 0.39 MWp on the four Ha’apai outer islands of 'Uiha, Nomuka, Ha'ano, and Ha'afeva; and (iii) 0.18 MWp of the solar home systems (SHS) on Niuafo’ou and Niuatoputapu. In addition, the project will update the existing electricity distribution network completely on ‘Eua and by 50% on Vava’u. The ongoing project has hired project management consultants (PMC) to (i) draft the final designs of equipment, (ii) support
the bidding process, (iii) conduct training on the operation and maintenance (O&M) of solar equipment, and (iv) provide efficient project implementation and management services for at least 5 years after the plants are commissioned.1

The impact of the ongoing project is reduced dependence on imported fossil fuel for power generation. The outcome of the project is (i) optimized use of ongrid and off-grid generation systems, and increased consumer access to electricity generated by solar power due to a reduction in cost. The aggregate impact and outcome of the overall project will be enhanced as a result of the additional financing.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Ministry of Finance and National Planning
Vuna Road
Nuku'alofa
Kingdom of Tonga

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main

How it works

How it works