The South Tarawa Renewable Energy Project (STREP-the project), ADB's first in Kiribati"s energy sector, will finance climate-resilient solar photovoltaic generation, a battery energy storage syste.
Why is South Tarawa project important?
This is a critical natural asset for South Tarawa and the project will help to reduce the decline in water availability and water quality as well as avoid the risk of further encroachment of incompatible land uses and contamination.
Source: ADB. III. 22. The present yearly electricity demand in South Tarawa is around 29 GWh and is expected to grow by 2% annually. The total power rating available to PUB is around 5MW, sufficient to meet the above yearly demand when all diesel generation sets are operational.
What are the capital costs of a battery energy storage system?
The capital costs include base costs covering civil and electrical works, equipment, logistics, transport, and physical contingencies. The battery energy storage system (BESS) to be installed accounts for a large portion (over 60%) of the cost and by itself does not produce any energy, but rather enables renewable energy to be utilized.