According to ABC's Pacific Beat, a pilot project of 30 stations has been launched at Hula, situated around 3 hours away from PNG's capital, Port Moresby. Multi national mobile phone operator, Digicell, says it has launched Papua New Guinea's first solar charging station for mobile phone users. The project, completed with help from the New Zealand aid programme and the World Bank, aims to improve connectivity for people in isolated parts of the. The project encompasses the construction of a solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) minigrid to be built on the island of Buka, within the autonomous region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. It will address the electricity needs of the region, which relies heavily on diesel generators. The PAWA PNG project, a joint venture with Dirio Gas & Power and the PNG government, will provide 283MW of less expensive and more reliable electricity supply with significantly lower emissions, as it primarily replaces aging, inefficient diesel-based generation with modern, high efficiency liquid. In 2009, The Rural Communications Project began and was projected to provide Internet connectivity to rural and remote areas of the country. The stations are very simple units, consisting of a single solar panel and a box containing batteries. Up to 20 phones will be able to be charged.
