Sun Pacific Solar Expansion Project (ADB-58247-001)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Samoa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Faleolo International Airport, Upolu
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
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
B
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
Aug 15, 2025
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
Sun Pacific Energy 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)
$ 2.80 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.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 2.80 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
Media Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Jan 16, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Aug 15, 2025

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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.

As stated by the ADB, the Project involves a loan of up to $2.8 million (in Australian dollar eqivalent) to Sun Pacific Energy Limited (SPEL), a private company incorporated in Samoa, for upgrading and expanding SPEL's existing solar power plant, the Upolu Solar Farm (Solar Farm). The Solar Farm is located at the Faleolo International Airport and was Samoa's first independent solar power producer project. The energy from the Solar Farm is sold to Samoa's state-owned utility (EPC). The Solar Farm will be upgraded from 4.2MW (AC) to a total installed capacity of 6.0MW(AC) by replacing all older, less efficient ReneSola 305Wp panels (installed in 2014) and a portion of the YingLi 350Wp panels (installed in 2018 with ADB financing) with newer, high efficiency 625Mp JA Solar bifacial panels. This upgrade is expected to increase the Solar Farm's generation capacity from the current estimated 6.2 GWh/year to approximately 9.6 GWh/year, supporting Samoa's renewable energy targets.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The ADB categorized the project E&S risks as follows:

Environment - B
Involuntary Resettlement - C
Indigenous Peoples - C

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Sun Pacific Energy Ltd is a company linked to people listed by ICIJ in the Paradise Papers: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/65402927

The company operates energy infrastructure in Samoa.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Sun Pacific Energy Limited Client Energy

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.

ADB Team Leader:

Pinnapa Satitpatanapan
Email: psatitpatanapan@adb.org   

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

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.

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How it works