Landowners of Nabou in Nadroga claim they are owed an outstanding sum of $45,000 in rent from Nabou Green Energy Limited.

Navutu Village spokesman Marika Senibua said they had approached the Korean owners on repeated occasions to request a payout.

“They tell us their shareholders are divided and unable to pay.” he said.

The matter came to light after Energy Fiji Limited chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel repeated in an interview last week the power plant had closed.

The Nabou Green Energy Plant, said to be the first of its kind in the Pacific,was not supplying electricity to Energy Fiji Limited, Mr Patel said.

“Management left for Korea, and then the COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions came in.

“Once travel restrictions are lifted, they’ll come back into business,” Mr Patel said.

He said he had been speaking with the Korean investors.

Power purchase agreement

Minister for Infrastructure Jone Usamate said the plant had a power purchase agreement with EFL from which they were to generate revenue to meet expenses such as rent. He referred all questions to Mr Patel.

Mr Patel did not respond to further telephone calls or queries sent via email yesterday afternoon.

The $90 million Nabou Green Energy plant was launched in 2017, and is Fiji’s first major specifically designed independent power producer (IPP).

According to the company’s website, the plant is owned by a Korean consortium – GIMCO, GS Power and Mirae Asset Daewoo.

Tropik Fiji Limited, the fourth stakeholder in the business, relinquished its shares last year.

According to earlier reports, the 12 megawatt biomass project was to focus on producing power to satisfy the power purchase agreement requirements with EFL.

The Nabou Green Energy Ltd’s 12MW biomass power plant was touted as part of Fiji’s move towards becoming a renewable energy dependent nation.

In December 2018, the power plant closed amidst reports of operational difficulties.

The Nabou power output was potentially enough to cover the whole of Nadi and parts of Nadroga.

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