Covid-19 disrupted plans for Tonga Energy Road (TERM) map to achieve 50 percent renewable energy by last year.
This was confirmed by the CEO of MEIDECC, Paula Mau in his opening remarks at the Energy stakeholders and Donor roundtable meeting held at Katea Retreat in Tongatapu.
“TERM was ended in 2020 and today we are going to start TERMPlus and it will go for 2021 – 2035. We will continue to achieve the 50% share of RE during TERMPlus period and go to 70% and 100% share of RE energy in our electricity mix until 2035”, the CEO reiterated.
Mau also thanked development partners for supporting the implementation of the TERM.
Speaking remotely from New Zealand, Manager of the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Solomone Fifita highlighted the impact of the covid19 in achieving the SDG7 and the TERM Plus objectives.
“Not achieving the targets of SDG 7 is a major concern because we can’t achieve other SDG targets relating to the eradication of poverty, empowering women and we can’t talk about leaving no one behind and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and etc if we are not going to achieve universal access to modern energy services that are affordable and reliable” Fifita added
The meeting presentations on the achievements of the TERM targets were enlightening. The target on reducing line losses below 9% was achieved ahead of time.
Over 95% of Tongans already have access to grid electricity and projects such as Outer Islands Renewable Energy Project (OIREP) and the Tonga Renewable Energy Project (TREP) are under implementation to help achieve the RE target of 50% RE generation.
These projects are expected to be completed soon despite the Covid-19 pandemic. New projects are already underway and will be implemented as part of TERMPlus.
The meeting was by the European Union and well attended by many of the traditional energy development partners including the Japanese Embassy, China, Australia, New Zealand, UNESCAP and the Pacific Centre for Renewable and Energy Efficiency (PCREEE).
Due to the Covid-19 border restrictions, other development partners were only able to join remotely via Zoom.