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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (6097)	6/26/2007 3:37:39 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24232

Fiji’s first wind farm starts July Tuesday June 26, 2007 Fiji’s first wind power farm, generating wind-powered electricity to Viti Levu consumers is expected to come online next month. Built at a cost of $34 million, the Butoni wind power farm in Sigatoka is another project by the Fiji Electricity Authority to generate more “green” energy to displace expensive diesel generation over the next 15 to 20 years. Currently, FEA uses largely hydro power and diesel (60-40 per cent) to provide power to the country. FEA chairman Nizam ud-Dean says at least 37 wind turbines in total will be generating wind power. The maximum rating of the total ensemble is 10MW (or 10,000kW). However, the power and energy produced is dependent on available wind to power the wind turbines, and this is not very predictable, Dean says. He says the whole system will be connected into the electric grid, hence contributing to the Viti Levu power system, which is an interconnected grid into which all power stations on Viti Levu feed. The grid then supplies all FEA consumers on Viti Levu. Asked what savings is expected from the new farm, Dean pointed out that savings are dependent on what the project is able to deliver in terms of energy from wind generation. This can vary from day to day, he added. “However, the expected annual figure for generation is 15GWh, or 15 million units of electricity. “This represents a saving of some $4.2m of diesel generation each year, on the present fuel prices. “Of course, this figure could be higher or less, depending on the availability of wind at the site and the fuel prices at any time,” Dean said. “At this figure, the project is worthwhile, as we see a payback in 8 years.” Dean says that in addition to the benefits of direct savings on diesel generation, and consequent savings to the nation in foreign reserves, this is what is known as a “green” project in that it is not producing harmful greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. Maintaining that this is a direct benefit to the environment, Dean says since Fiji has signed the Kyoto Protocol, the actual amount of carbon dioxide saved has a commercial value which can be traded on international stock markets as carbon credits which FEA uses. “These are additional benefits from such renewable energy projects and hence help to give a more beneficial return on the project,” he added. Work on Butoni wind farm had started in July 2004 and the commissioning and testing works are now in progress before it comes online next month. On whether the FEA would consider other wind farms around the country, Dean says this would depend on their working experience with Butoni. He says a wind map of Fiji has been carried out to see which sites might be suitable for future wind farms. “This could be looked at later, as currently the FEA is concentrating on a new hydro project at Nadarivatu, which will be half the size of the Monasavu project.” Dean says Butoni is part of a group of projects that FEA is constructing, or private developers are constructing to sell energy to FEA, which are renewable energy projects and which, it is planned, will make FEA reduce its diesel generation to 10 per cent of the total generation by the year 2011. Currently, the diesel generation figure is 50 per cent of the total, and last year, the cost of just diesel fuel alone came to $98 million, he says. “This is a large cost to FEA as well as to the nation and is the driving force behind the plans to build various renewable energy power plants to displace expensive diesel generation over the next 15 to 20 years. “Such plants, by nature, are capital intensive, but the overall benefits make it worth the initial costs,” Dean said. fijilive.com