Qeleloa, Nadi, proposed site if selected to

Astronergy Solar Korea, through its sister company, Astronergy Solar (Fiji) Ltd, is hoping to develop a 5 megawatts solar farm in Qeleloa, Nadi.

Fiji Electricity Authority called for expressions of interest.

Fiji Sun understands that Astronergy Solar (Fiji) Ltd is one of the top bidders for a solar project.

This initiative is part of Astronergy’s wants to build 40 megawatts solar farm in Fiji and Qeleloa is the proposed site.

Should the company operate, Qeleloa would be their first project in Fiji.

The project will be undertaken on a 13.8061 hectare land with proposed power generating time of 4hrs/day and would increase once in a while.

Astronergy manager/overseas business division project development team one, Sangwook Kim, said they were into their final stages of negotiations with the Fiji Electricity Authority.

“Our PPA (power purchase agreement) proposal to FEA is that Qeleloa Solar Farm 5MW will be $0.20cents kilo watts per hour,” Mr Kim said.

“And this will be for 25 years, after which all ownership will be transferred to the FEA free, with the value of power at 80 per cent.”

Astronergy Solar (Fiji) Ltd would invest $13.22 million into this 5MW solar farm and after 25 years the residual value would sit at $10.57m, Mr Kim said.

However, should the solar project operate using battery backup system, this investment figure would increase.

“Battery price is expensive at the moment. If we use battery backup system the 5MW solar power plant would be an investment of about $30 million,” Astronergy Solar (Fiji) Ltd director Richard Kwon said.

A 40MW pure solar power plant would cost us about $150m and a backup battery system for a 40 MW plant would be more than $300m, Mr Kwon added.

Qeleloa Solar Farm would be compliant with Fiji’s national energy policy.

“It minimises fossil fuel dependency, is an eco-friendly energy and Fiji will be the leading country in the region promoting renewable energy use,” Mr Kim added.

There will be no water or air pollution, nor any damage to the ecosystem, he said.

“Even if we were to use backup battery system, it would still not affect the environment,” Mr Kwon said.

This power plant would assist FEA in supplying power in the Western Division.

Future investments

After the completion of the 5MW Qeleloa Solar Farm, the company hopes to establish the same project in other parts of Fiji.

This will be 5MW power plants until they reach their proposed establishment of 40MW in Fiji.

Mr Kim said they would also be expanding their projects to other South Pacific countries, such as Tonga, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands.

This, he said, was part of their plan to promote the use of renewable energy.

“This is different from biomass, where burning is involved and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, photovoltaic (solar power), the power we generating, is different.”

Astronergy hopes to build 25MW solar power plant in Fiji by 2020.

The company would also provide training on solar power plant for the staff members of FEA.

Equipment & Employments

“We will be importing equipment from China and Korea,” Mr Kim added.

No equipment has been imported yet, however, Mr Kwon said once they have the approval of FEA, the importing of equipment would not be a problem.

Some of the equipment they will be importing are solar panel, structures, transformer, cables and inverter (an equipment that helps in transferring power from solar DC to AC power).

And in terms of employment, Mr Kim said, they wouldn’t be able to say how many exactly would be employed, because they would be hiring contractors from Suva and the Western Division who had their own workers.

Mr Kim said talks with the Fiji Electricity Authority were progressing well and they were looking to begin construction this year.

About Astronergy Korea

Astronergy Korea is a Korean company that is involved in consulting, planning, development, construction and management of solar power plants.

The company was formed in 2006 and was established in Fiji as Astronergy Solar (Fiji) Ltd in 2014.

They have carried out solar power plant projects in countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, India, Thailand and South Africa.

It is the biggest supplier of low voltage products in Asia, with 2200 distributors in China and sales in 100 countries.

It is also a qualified manufacturer of main components such as solar module, inverter and mounting structure.

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