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HOW ADB IS HELPING POWER THE PACIFIC

By Asian Development Bank

April 6^th, 2021

Power is Life

In the Pacific, power is life. Reliable electricity allows hospitals to conduct life-saving surgery, keeps food and medicine fresh and sanitary, and keeps street lights on to make neighborhoods and communities safer. The Asian Development Bank is heavily invested in the Pacific by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy resources, expanding access to energy, and promoting energy sector reform, capacity building, and effective governance.

Electricity are now available for many homes in Kiribati.

Street lights illuminate the streets of Nauru during the night.

Students from Nauru College doing research online.

A fish market in Apia, Samoa.

Energy represents ADB’s second largest sector by lending volume in the Pacific, with total cumulative approvals for 2007–2020 reaching $945 million last year, a number boosted with valuable support from development partners, Pacific governments, and the private sector. ADB’s collaborative approach to lending and grants allows it to deliver more transformative impacts.

An example of that can be seen in Tonga, where four ADB projects over the past 10 years are helping Tonga achieve more resilient, more sustainable, and more reliable power. Of the almost $100 million invested, almost $86 million has come from key partners such as the Governments of Australia and Denmark, the European Union, the Green Climate Fund, and the Global Environment Facility.

The majority of ADB’s energy sector support in the Pacific goes to power generation. From 2007 to 2020, ADB helped finance and construct almost 95 megawatts of additional installed capacity across the Pacific, helping connect almost 16,000 households to electricity. A growing share of that capacity is coming from renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, and solar, as seen in countries such as the Cook Islands. ADB has also made significant investments to improve transmission and distribution networks in countries such as Papua New Guinea. Increasingly, ADB is helping improve grid stability with battery storage, which will allow the Pacific island nations to introduce additional sources of intermittent and renewable power supply.

Staff maintaining the solar panels at the Rarotonga airport solar power project site.

Workers installing power lines in Papua New Guinea.

A maintenance staff working in an electricity facility in Kimbe, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Workers in Tonga doing repairs on electrical facilities damaged by tropical cyclone Gita in 2018.

A Clean Energy Revolution

The Pacific’s limited supply of domestic fossil fuel resources has led to a historical dependence on imported diesel for power generation and vulnerability to fluctuating energy prices. To overcome regional energy constraints, the Pacific developing member countries have embarked on a structural shift toward renewable energy. This access to clean power has enormous real-world benefits for communities in the Pacific. It keeps street lights on in Kiribati, hospitals running in the Cook Islands, classes uninterrupted in Palau, and small businesses open in Samoa.

Hospital with installed solar panels on their rooftop in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Solar street lighting installed in major roads in Tarawa, Kiribati.

Students from Palau High School using a tablets in class.

Rouena Mulipola uses a prepaid electricity meter installed in her home in Apia, Samoa. The government and ADB have worked closely together to upgrade the electricity industry in the country..

A Regional Approach

ADB is also taking a regional approach with its energy investment, including through the Pacific Renewable Energy Investment Facility. This is streamlining ADB and development partner investments in the 11 small Pacific island countries by approving a $700 million facility to finance a large number of small-value renewable energy projects. The technical assistance for Capacity Building and Sector Reform for Renewable Energy Investments in the Pacific is supporting the long-term sustainability of infrastructure and investments in energy sectors across the region. The Pacific Renewable Energy Program is designed to encourage private sector investment by using donor funds to backstop the payment obligations of power utilities.

The facility has helped achieve rural electrification through the Outer Island Renewable Energy Project and the Renewable Energy Project, both in Tonga. The facility also finances projects for supporting grid infrastructure to increase energy security. Two projects in the Marshall Islands rehabilitated a 6 million-gallon diesel tank farm and procured 500 advanced meters.

ADB is also investing in capacity building and sector reform, working with regulators to build a set of best practices and working with the private sector to backstop the payment obligations of Pacific utilities.

Staff working at the power facility in Majuro. The Improved Energy Supply for Poor Households Project aims to provide clean and affordable electricity for low-income households..

Electric meter at a low-income household in Majuro. The Improved Energy Supply for Poor Households Project aims to provide clean and affordable electricity for low-income households..

Workers in Tonga doing repairs on electrical facilities damaged by tropical cyclone Gita in 2018.

Roadside solar charger in Tonga.

For more information, go to ADB’s Pacific Energy Update 2020

© 2026 Asian Development Bank

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