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The Solomon Islands through their National Designated Enitity requested assistance from the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) to strengthen the Solomon Islands Water Authority through energy efficient water pumping services and self generating options from renewable energy.
Solomon Islands Water Authority supplies and manages water in four main islands in Solomon Islands. It supplies water to an estimated population of 100,000. The Authority faces challenges of higher carbon footprint because of using electricity from fossil fuels mainly diesel for water pumping. Moreover, the energy cost accounts for about 35% of the total operational cost and is substantial.
In response to this, CTCN through UNIDO hired technical consultant, its network member PricewaterhouseCoopers India (PwC) to execute this technical assistance. The experts conducted detailed energy audits and renewable energy feasibility study in the selected seven pump stations. During the next mission, PricewaterhouseCoopers India will organize a two-day classroom training to further enhance Solomon Water’s capacity in water and energy management and monitoring. In addition, the next mission will look closely at identification of gender co-benefits of the projects through a structured gender analysis framework.
After this technical assistance is completed, Solomon Water will be able to enhance operational efficiency of its pump stations, implement various self-generation options using renewable energy technologies to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and eventually help in mitigation of GHG emissions. In the long run, this assistance is also expected to increase consumers' access to water by driving down prices of water services.
