Solomon Islands

In Solomon Islands, project activities was initially being implemented by the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) in partnership with the Government of Solomon Islands through the Department of Energy of the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification. However, from 2022, GGGI took over project implementation in Solomon Islands by finalizing all training modules, local language translations and conducting main community trainings in selected communities.

The Project had initially recruited Mr. Hamptan Pitu as the National Project Coordinator, who was replaced in mid 2022 by Mr. Aloysius Erobaea as the Project Coordinator consultant, who oversaw the finalization of the training modules and conducted the main community trainings with the other trainer consultants.  The project coordinator was based at the Department of Energy and thus was able to work  closely with our government counterparts.

The project preliminary assessment identified Guadalcanal and Central provinces as potential rural sites for implementing this project. These sites were prioritized based on current and pipeline Renewable Energy (RE) projects earmarked for implementation. These related projects are either funded by donors, Solomon Power and the Constituency Development Funds through the National Government Projects. Some of the sites also have schools, rural clinics and provincial centers operating which gives a reasonable population for project implementation.

The preliminary assessment also identified a number of challenges that could impact on the project. These were:

• Insufficient personnel with basic skills and knowledge to operate and maintain Electrification systems in rural communities;
• Lack of proper management of systems in place to take care of the systems;
• Inadequate funding allocations for maintenance of the system;
• Community disputes;
• High cost of replacement parts;
• Insufficient information on where to access spare parts;
• Lack of spare parts;
• High logistics costs for shipping parts;
• Distance from main market centres.

The National Workshop was held on 29 October 2019 at the Kairos Conference Centre, Honiara, Solomon Islands.

This was a full day workshop that included participation from government officials and representatives of the private sector from, or operating at, the sites identified in the Regional Inception and Planning Workshop.

The workshop was organized to engage and get the support of key national stakeholders before the national implementation of the project. The workshop turnout was good, with participants representing different institutions including the Government Ministries, Youth Council, Private Sector, People with Disability and Local community Leaders.

Participants were asked to review and confirm the project implementation sites within the two provinces of Guadalcanal and Central, the type of training modules relevant for the locally targeted groups, and to identify potential individuals, organizations and agencies to assist in delivering the training at the national and provincial levels.