On May 2, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a grant agreement with the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga in Nukuʻalofa, the capital city, to provide grant aid of up to 2.1 billion yen for the Project for Installation of Wind Power Generation System.
The project aims to contribute to the stable supply of energy in Tonga by developing a wind power generation system and a grid stabilization system on Tongatapu, promoting the utilization of renewable energy and diversifying power supply sources.
With limited energy resources, Tonga depends on imported diesel fuel for more than 93 percent of its energy. The country is therefore greatly affected by fluctuations in global crude oil prices and other external factors; as an island country, Tonga is subject to high transportation costs and is vulnerable in terms of energy security. Another related issue is that diesel fuel is one of the country's major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Given these circumstances, the government has established the goal of increasing the proportion of renewable energy to 50 percent (27 gigawatt-hours) of the entire electricity supply by 2020, and is working to diversify the power sources.
By providing a wind power generation system, it is expected that the project will increase the ratio of renewable energy in the composition of the country's power resources by around six percent, reducing the quantity of diesel fuel used and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced.
This is the first grant aid project in which Japan is installing a wind power generation system.
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April 19, 2024
